Published in Overland Issue 202 Autumn 2011 Main Posts / Writing Survey John Kinsella It’s been too hot during the day to survey the block – ornate language doesn’t do the trick, it’s a physical, material, and pragmatic performance … not ‘radical empiricism’, but an act of preservation. The difference here; the difference elsewhere. I work this over as I note the fast, hot winds have brought down two great limbs from the eucalypt by the tank, the green leaves already seared and probably ‘dead before they hit the ground’. The water trough I fill for kangaroos and other wildlife in this desiccated habitat is almost dry and what moisture remains informs a bloom of algae. I clean and refill. Red ants bite my feet and I carefully brush them away. A hawk looks for a safe perch to settle for the night. Each substance ‘inheres’, or is it ‘in which they inhere’? as William James might attribute to this wood from the fallen tree, questioning its quality of ‘combustibility and fibrous structure’. I – we – manage our days because of those attributes, those qualities of burn. I survey the block in the relative cool of evening while there’s still enough light to make things out: shape them individually and as an entirety, into a whole that adds up, is as good as might be, kept from larger harm, grouped in those days James lectures us about, phenomena of climate and gumption to resolve as much as possible. I entrust to the relative cool of night. John Kinsella John Kinsella’s new work includes the story collection Pushing Back (Transit Lounge, 2021), Saussure's Kaleidoscope Graphology Drawing-Poems (Five Islands Press/Apothecary Archive, 2021) and The Ascension of Sheep: Collected Poems Volume 1 (UWAP, 2022). More by John Kinsella 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 First published in Overland Issue 228 11 November 202211 November 2022 Main Posts On the last day of Subscriberthon, our amazing online editor gives you one last (very good) reason to subscribe Editorial team What's in store for the last day of Subscriberthon? First published in Overland Issue 228 10 November 202210 November 2022 Main Posts On the second-last day of Subscriberthon, our favourite editor-duo give you reason #1002 to subscribe to Overland Editorial team What's in store for the second-last day of Subscriberthon?