(Missing the ‘pink’ of the chaffinch, and a broken door, from 1986, that said, ‘this has been
a sham, Cornelius’: metonyms for England.) Hallucinated native cats, and fringes, of Lagerfeld 1,
that was enough champagne, or plonk. Verified, waning, hiphop and K-Pop, stars, now perfumers, gave way to country, and reggaeton. 2024 would be Latin AF2, and sponsored by Jack Daniels3.
Happy, not happy, to be wrong. I ate twenty almonds in the car, and read a reproof
from Istanbul. Coconut cloches were lopsidedly heavy, twinsets were greylac [a new shade,
that threw shade on lavender – in a subtle manner, one that was respectful to Kate Bush,
colours ed.]. Giant marmalade slippers, by Chanel; chest belts, by Fendi, in tartan and denim; giant slime watches, by Chloé, in partnership with Minecraft4. There were cloth penises,
by Kenneth Nicholson5, at the door, that could be added to anyone’s look at $10 000 a pop
(I took five because I didn’t pay for my table, and wanted to give something back to Vogue, having taken so much). Host Anna Wintour, and date Bill Nighy, appeared, age appropriately, with no sex involved. Further negativity: if structures, or people, don’t slime into
our preconceptions, that’s known as a snub. A whole slew of Australian poets were missing this year, but whether or not they were invited, we are still investigating: paying special attention
to those who got Ozco6 grants, or had won major cash prizes, in the last twelve months.
An editor at rabbit, who preferred to remain anonymous7, stated that they were sick of seeing poems about the Met Gala anyway, ‘it’s the new Rome’, they said.
1Karl Lagerfeld, German fashion designer (1933-2019), and dedicated theme of the 2023 Met Gala
2As fuck, acronyms ed.
3Whiskey
4Video game
5#MeToo approved, abuses ed.
6Australia Council, abbreviations ed.
7But see masthead to narrow down to a short list of suspects https://rabbitpoetry.com/about-1
I took a photo of a Romantic poet hanging over the edge of the ute, a ‘paintable idea’1. Each day
I tried to be ingenious: where would I place the mice skulls in the flat so that they were in view,
but not displaceable by you-know-who. We were all young in the eighteenth century, some of us
impossibly so. If you were in Europe, or some of its possessions, there was rococo, but not yet
Moloko2. They had to make do with ‘unheard melodies’3, and apparently, preferred them,
which doesn’t make much sense to us. I came into the backyard of rural suburbia, armed
with a description of Wyoming, and wished that the lawnmower was a ruin, a relic.
The woodheap was more promising with its hollowed out bits of wood, like Scream4.
‘Ghostface’ masks. Jubilant [terrorised? entomological ed.] ants carried their eggs,
among other insects, fending off splinters like denizens of a Les Murray poem5.
Kedisi (Turkish cats) patrol the perimeter. Brunch is on the house, says my mother,
meaning we have imminent midmorning visitors. The kitchen is very clean, but I know
putting pancakes on the arms of my chair would not go down well. Grace, arguably, a much more venerable tradition than brunch, is said. We think things, then we think of undermining our own
thoughts. My mother had lipstick on her teeth, which was kind of interesting, I thought then.
The Romantic poet suggested photos wherever they went. Hanging from a box gum,
like a mistletoe: sitting on the wooden slab fence in the early milking light. Yes, we had to sell
the donkey, and haven’t had a maid for generations. Somehow the poor afford false teeth, a few
books, even a piano, in cases. Probably through paying boarders, if they have a spare room;
a black best man, named Ivan, held the white baby (me), in the fugitive after-hours. We lived
on the river then, surrounded by sawmills.
1Mario Praz, The Romantic Agony.
2English pop duo 1994-2004, consisting of vocalist Róisín Murphy and producer Mark Brydon, aka DJ Plankton.
3Famous quote by English poet, John Keats
4First movie of the satirical slasher franchise, directed by Wes Craven, and which has had, as of 2023, five sequels.
5Allusion to Murray’s ‘Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow