Published in Overland Issue 239 Winter 2020 · Poetry A matter of lives Tony Birch murder reduced to counting bodies naming names dates and days processioning through plagued streets grief – a spectacle feeding news your life – no life – what life – which and whose fucking life matters? blank headlines do not shed tears or hear the death of a living heart a black woman asleep on a train is no news is good news until the day arrives and she becomes a fact of death Read the rest of Overland 239 If you enjoyed this piece, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four brilliant issues for a year Tony Birch Tony Birch holds the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at Melbourne University. He is the author of four novels, five short fiction collections, and two poetry books. His most recent book is the novel Women and Children (UQP). More by Tony Birch › 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 5 November 2025 · Poetry Force posture agreement Miroslav Sandev The men of Darwin have all taken their rottweilers / out for a walk at the same time. / For our protection. Like Pine Gap: / all those big white eyes that scan / the darkening horizon. / The eyes stay woke, so that we may sleep. / Or so they say. 1 22 August 202522 August 2025 · Poetry starmight K.A Ren Wyld Ending genocide and apartheid is the story. Palestinian liberation is the story. / Aboriginal rights is the story. Truth, justice, treaties and land back is the story. / Global Indigenous peoples’ solidarity and joy is the story. Kinship is the story.
