Published in Overland Issue 237 Summer 2019 · Uncategorized Learning Jini Maxwell There is a very fine line between writing and just sitting down like the difference between asking and begging, a snowglobe and a crystal ball the most important distinctions can be the hardest to discern: a dropped plate, the beginning of violence; saying no, never answering at all; I once dreamt of the relief of leaving, or— was it of going with the comfort of a welcome return? A lake viewed from over an aeroplane’s wing. A cold coin in the world’s outstretched palm. Read the rest of Overland 237 If you enjoyed this piece, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four brilliant issues for a year Jini Maxwell Jini Maxwell is a writer and curator based in Naarm. They co-curate Gay24, a film night for rare and radical queer and trans films. They are currently working on their first poetry collection. More by Jini Maxwell › 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 14 February 202514 February 2025 · Poetry 9 to 5 Dave Drayton volunteer to clown / undermine an award / construct to heave / interfere in class / dismantle if civil / disregard no cause / freelance at ennui 1 13 February 202514 February 2025 · Reviews Echoing of the white gaze in Evie Wyld’s The Echoes Karen Wyld Wyld’s creation of voiceless-nameless-lifeless Blak people in The Echoes serves no narrative purpose. This novel is not truth-telling of invasion and occupation, and it does not envision justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Instead of rejecting or confronting lazy literary tropes and colonial-style narratives, the author has erased Blak voices, bodies, histories and futures, adding her own voice to a never-ending echo of white-gazed literature when silence would have been better.