Published in Overland Issue 233 Summer 2018 Uncategorized I knew her but could not be a boy Harry Reid i’m throwing it off in a big way & no-one notices. i’ve seen it cause a fuss & now that’s the only way to do it. she thinks i’m lying because i’m wearing jeans but she’s never seen me on the weekend. (in my dreams i’m a jockey & no-one recognises me under all that silk) all my friends see a salmon & say ‘same’. we drive down to lake’s entrance & take our clothes off, it’s very stressful. if i had to buy a swimsuit i think i would die. i’m thinking about the drugs, it seems as though that’s what you have to do. she’s raising money to go all the way & my stomach gnaws at me it’s a feeling like jealousy but less useful. i tell a big secret to everyone i meet & usually they forget right away. this makes poetry difficult among other things. a boy i like has a girlfriend & this is difficult too. (today i gave my two weeks & tomorrow i will buy a horse) there are doors everywhere the only problem is that most of them are locked. when it’s warm again i will spend a little money but for now the rain settles in over the bowls club & i watch the races. Image: Damien Roué / 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 Harry Reid Harry Reid is a poet based in Melbourne. They are a co-director of Sick Leave, and the author of the best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend (Puncher & Wattmann, 2021). More by Harry Reid 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.