Published in Overland Issue 233 Summer 2018 Uncategorized Fixings of Musedom (or How to Use a Muse) Melinda Bufton I mean it to be a thing that is lank but fond like a dead feather boa no-one can remember who it belonged to originally god but you still grab it when you’re loose, and flamboyantly tear it round your shoulders with nary a thinking. Look, it’s like a plastic bucket lying around that you tip some rainwater and dead leaves from before turning it to another purpose. I dunno. A zucchini harvest or the like. Look. It’s just the same as when you go to Zara or H and M and you KNOW that the innocent polyesters died in their thousands for the pelt you now drape with hope over en-sleekened peach, the in-sucked stomach of your comely bargains. The polyesters died, and you will probably buy this little rag. But no matter. You could also just wear a bucket. No-one really knows this but if you shush down the voices of your own makeover hamlet, the Muse pops up and tells you what to wear anyway. THIS IS HER MAIN FUNCTION. Image: Buckets / flickr Read the rest of Overland 233 If you enjoyed this poem, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four outstanding issues for a year Melinda Bufton Melinda Bufton is a poet and doctoral candidate at RMIT University, researching contemporary feminist poetics. Her latest collection, Superette, was recently released by Puncher and Wattmann. More by Melinda Bufton Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 1 First published in Overland Issue 228 3 February 20233 February 2023 Fiction Fiction | Romeo and Juliet II: Haunted rentals Georgia Symons The hauntings are actually quite flamboyant here, though. Yeah, come in, come in. Not like my friend Moya’s house—it just has a tool shed that sometimes isn’t there and that’s it. So boring. Yes, you can keep your shoes on. 1 First published in Overland Issue 228 2 February 20233 February 2023 The university Deadly word games: universities and defining antisemitism Nick Riemer In a few weeks, Vice-Chancellors will be discussing a request by a group of federal politicians to endorse the latest weapon in Zionists’ longstanding bid to suppress criticism of Israeli apartheid on campus—the highly controversial definition of antisemitism produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Their decision will constitute a watershed moment for universities’ already somewhat threatened credibility as centres of independent analysis and truth-telling.
