Published in Overland Issue 241 Summer 2020 · Uncategorized Great dividing range William Fox I would like to try to find it again, this time without laminated map, without compass worn like a whistle. I hated school camp up to when group 3 snowballed off a ridge track into an accidental valley: grotto-secret, enclosed but vast, like the concept art for a Gaia spaceship, a bucolic colony inside a toilet roll. This was ours. There was even a hut. The sun seemed only to eye over the lip, casting everything – muscular backpacks, unbelievable teenage hair, a monstrous dynamic between the weakest kid and everyone – into the light of bed before school: a rich paleness, stretched over privacy, (what you possessed, and what possessed you) for much longer than time thought possible. The country kid dropped twine in a rivulet, never caught a thing; didn’t care. The bully read the hut guestbook but never thought to scrawl all over it; had an odd respect for what’s inaccessible. The nicest boy started to gather the bits and pieces he needed to prep for tea. He did so smilingly, as you learn the nicest people tend to do. I watched lost snow clumps survive on blowy braziers of grass. I dreaded a full night in redback bunks. An arcing breeze knew I wanted mum. Our valley was not there to judge. Read the rest of Overland 241 If you enjoyed this piece, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four brilliant issues for a year William Fox William Fox is a poet from Naarm/Melbourne. His work has appeared previously in Overland, as well in Meanjin, Island, Southerly, and The Best Australian Poems series of books. His debut collection will be released by Rabbit in late 2022. More by William Fox › 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 30 August 2024 · the arts The statements we make Kate Larsen As artists, cultural workers and arts organisations, ours is the business of statement-making. I was reminded of this recently by the work of Portuguese artist Tiago Casanova, whose installation Every wall is a Statement is currently part of the A liberdade e só a Liberdade exhibition (‘Freedom and only freedom’) at The Art and Culture […] 28 August 202428 August 2024 · literary culture What I learnt from reading Chinese youth agony literature Stephanie Qiu Youth agony literature swept across high schools in China from the mid-2000s to early 2010s. While boys played Dota, girls read romance. When my best friend got caught reading a popular book called Devil’s Kiss at recess, the head teacher confiscated it and called her parents in.