I remember: The sharp stink of campfires and the tang of eucalyptus and pine. The crunch of shoes on gravel in the dark. Rain on a canvas roof. The sound of nearby water, and the way it changed the feel of the air. I was taller than the boys, mostly. Taller, heavier, thighs and hips… Continue reading Late night
Tag: sex
A Study in the Art of Revolution II
When I was five, Dean B?? bullied me for my freckles. It?s my first memory of primary school. I was self-conscious about the way my skin looked for years afterwards. The comments didn?t stop as I got older, either. I remember being 13 and walking out of Middle Brighton train station in summer in a… Continue reading A Study in the Art of Revolution II
Arioso
Sometimes in this sultry climate, when the words won?t come, in between the storm-shadow, the rumbling of thunder, the pouring rain outside and the drumming of water on the shower curtain, my concentration begins to slip. I know it when it starts, the way you know the scent of home. And then there?s that hot… Continue reading Arioso
The itch
1. The bugs have been biting my legs since I got to Brisbane. I douse myself in insect repellent, swat them away, slap them, swear at them, beg them to stop, but still they bite. I wake up in the morning with little red welts peppering my legs. 2. There is frangipani in the garden,… Continue reading The itch
An eddy and the undertow
I have perfected the art of the 24-hour lament. If you can call it a lament. An expulsion. Catharsis. A moment of reflection before the purge. I let you into my body momentarily, now I am pushing you out again. Before that: I found precisely eleven post-it notes in my copy of Virginia Woolf?s To… Continue reading An eddy and the undertow
Peeled, uncurling
I had a bath this morning, after sleeping like the dead and waking with the impression of crumpled linen on my face. The water was as hot as I could possibly stand and buried under clouds of white lavendar foam. With the bathroom door wide open, the back door ajar, the stereo full volume and… Continue reading Peeled, uncurling