Published in Overland Issue 237 Summer 2019 · Uncategorized In this letter, i can finally grammar yourself into a poem Duy Quang Mai dear Quang, don’t forget you are already here, sky-clean in light. doesn’t matter when this city less flame, i tell you that we stay yes, we do. so by writing you this i’m chiseling these syllables to our heart’s music. remember that sometimes, our punctuations fall apart for a reason. i think ‘chaos’ in our mother-tongue has another body, turning to ‘chào’ or vietnamese for hello. & hello a cliché that harvests the spring in your mouth you are here to give life, Quang so get up. been a while but i hope you earn a nice day (?) sorry so much for your patience (?) & everything kind regards,,,:; – (maybe a hyphen could help this continue / go on / outstretch / please / p l e a s pl e a s e p lea se / live / live / live x 10^100^10000) i miss you into a famine. i really do? Read the rest of Overland 237 If you enjoyed this piece, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four brilliant issues for a year Duy Quang Mai Duy Quang Mai is an international student in Sydney, originally from Hanoi, Vietnam. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in The Lifted Brow, Cordite Poetry Review and Rabbit. More by Duy Quang Mai › 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 6 November 2026 · Friday Fiction Headland Harry Goddard He must have still been sore. I could tell from the winces he made as he scooted down the trail. Some unspoken agreement of not hitting other people’s children — and the circumstances of me not being that type of kid — spared me from the same punishment. I was taken to my parents who agreed I would have to work off the damages, and I must have mowed the lawn once, or cleaned the family car. 4 November 2026 · Film MIFF, Minotaur and the politics of maternal reception Alicia Byrnes Maternal labour is, in the terms I’ve set out here, not labour at all. Noisy, unfocused, mobile, perhaps even sleepy — it is an affront to arthouse film viewing and therefore unserious.
