Published in Overland Issue 252 Spring 2023 · Poetry A seagull covered in curry Niko Chlopicki Like Ukraine as protesters sing “April Sun in Cuba” to ScoMo on first day of campaign trail & Albo says: This talk about revolution is going a little too far & Amazon CEO says workers are “better off” without a union & the Washington Post says: How to Recognize Gaslighting and Respond to it & the wrong Amazon is burning & a bday cake says: CONGRATS ON THE ADHD DIAGNOSIS & adhd is like: i am aware of everything within ten miles (i can feel my bones) if i do not tap my fingers i will die, my brain cells are vibrating & autism is like: sitting by my computer eating sausage with Wikipedia opened to “sausage” & being labelled as a gifted kid is like: “Veterinarians treat ‘exotic’ bird, realise it’s just a seagull covered in curry” & Perrotet says he looked anxiously dapper in a Nazi outfit at 21st birthday / more to come & MGMT is like: Whoever keeps posting Karl Marx quotes on the break room bulletin needs to stop & straight people when they realise they have biceps instead of heteroceps & anarchists when they realise it’s called the prostate & comrades say: Don’t get arrested this Invasion Day & Baudrillard is like: Every post on the internet is a call for help & a UWU warehouse worker says: My coworkers and I produce $3,000,000 worth of goods every year, the materials and utilities cost $800,000, the tools cost $200,000 and all of us combined get paid $500,000 which means that there’s $1,500,000 being paid to someone who didn’t contribute to the work at all & a non-unionised worker is like: My screens today were not good, so I’d like to watch something on the big screen in our house while using a smaller screen & Greta Thunberg in the club says: You hot like our dying planet & Frodo be like: i am totally adventurepilled / i’m in my fellowship arc / i’m basically questmaxxing but with a shirecore aesthetic & my parents in their 20s: Let’s buy a house and have a baby vs me in my 20s: sure wish they hadn’t, I gotta be at work in an hour & a waitress says: Oh, table 6 needs a lobster right now? Grow up. / Oh, you’re having a bad time, so am I & millennials again are like we watched 2000 people die on live tv and things have never gotten better, we had our Cheez TV ruined by 9/11 & Gen Z gonna be like: What’s a cheese tv? u no goating u got no riz & growing to be uncool like your parents is like fire in an El Niño economy & the TEAL parents are like: The planet is dying, let’s do something, then they, like, drop a slur and capital gain more property. Niko Chlopicki Niko Chlopicki currently resides on unceded Gadigal land, works as a lifeguard, and is a member of the United Services Union. He completed his Honours in Creative Writing at University of Wollongong in 2019. He has publications in Marrickville Pause, Subbed In, Plumwood Mountain and Cordite. More by Niko Chlopicki › 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.