Published in Overland Issue 242 Autumn 2021 · Poetry after life Debbie Lim after the fact / they will position / our limbs heads and feet so they are pointing north-south / east-west / west-east as if to greet the dawn / or watch the setting sun / or shun forever the light / thrown from this world / as if we were wise ciphers / they will bury us / in rich cloths and masks place objects of great / or common worth / within or beyond the grasp of our lustless bone / -jangled hands / they will touch / the soft distal points of our bodies / tenderly or with coldness / perhaps they will seal in / some warmth a prayer or small song / before turning one last time to go / i don’t know / where we hope to travel / who we should meet there / far under the hill / all dressed up so fine in the dark / or naked with our skulls / broken or unbroken bellies emptied or full / child or old / but in any case blessed and cursed harder / than any moment / we might have remembered / when we still lived on this earth. Read the rest of Overland 242 If you enjoyed this piece, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four brilliant issues for a year Debbie Lim Debbie Lim was shortlisted for the Peter Porter Poetry Prize in 2022. Her chapbook is Beastly Eye (Vagabond Press) and a full-length collection, Bathypelagia, will be published by Cordite Books in 2025. She was born in Sydney, where she lives on Darramuragal land. More by Debbie Lim › 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.
