Published in Overland Issue 235 Winter 2019 · Uncategorized Stanwell Park Aurora Scott We’re wondering how that bike got up there, running for a train that’s one minute early, moving the fern into a shadier spot. The daymoon looks like the bathroom’s cement wall, becomes the point of conversation between children leaving school, is relentless. I want stronger shower pressure, her to be up before I leave, the soup option to be back on the menu. The neighbours line their mailboxes at the bottom so the postie doesn’t have to walk up, spy on us and each other, moved down to get away from the flight path. A man is swimming out past the heads, jokes about always ordering the same thing and then orders the same thing, takes a six-seater to himself on the last train home. I forgot the hose was running, you didn’t grow up going barefoot outside, which rock to leave the key under. The Queen’s Birthday is filled with clanging sun and meat, changes depending on which state you’re in, gives them time to clean the awning. We watch someone get baptised in the creek through the kitchen window, the Foxtel that came with the internet plan, a family of deer cross the road at night. There are people graffitiing in navy and orange along the tunnel, plans for a street Christmas party, trails you haven’t found yet that will get you places. Image: Angelo Pantazis on Unsplash Read the rest of Overland 235 If you enjoyed this poem, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four brilliant issues for a year Aurora Scott Aurora Scott is a writer and audio producer who lives in Melbourne. Her work has been published in Seizure, Runway, and un Magazine, among others. More by Aurora Scott › 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 2 October 20233 October 2023 · Aboriginal Australia The use and abuse of History in the Voice referendum debate: an interview with Professor Gary Foley Gary Foley and Padraic Gibson I can see the failure of the referendum making a whole lot of Blackfellas sit up and think and realise again, what we realised back in ’67, that our best efforts to achieve our aims are always at our own behest, under our own control. A whole new generation of Black activists deciding hang on, to hell with the rest of them, let’s just focus on our own communities and start building up the strength of our own communities. 1 First published in Overland Issue 228 28 September 20233 October 2023 · Cartoons Ban cars from the city Sam Wallman Sam Wallman makes the case for closing the streets off one by one.
