OnDusk

Six months after taking up the corner ground floor unit, my confident said, "I’m worried that you are getting too comfortable here." The large grand white building now ran with jagged masonry scars around the base, where vehicles had crashed and scraped. On a bad day there were large dead rats disemboweled on the concourse by the three cats who roamed in residence. Police welfare checks had flourished. It took over an hour to smash through a door if someone was unconscious inside. Ambulances came and went quietly day and night.  Two tenants had decent sound systems. I played soundtracks – Gortoz A Ran (Black Hawk Down}, Marriage of Figaro (Shawshank Redemption) and on grey days, the Man on Fire soundtrack, The End,  when Creasy dies. The other tenant had one song on repeat, Titanic’s My Heart will Go On (Celine Dion).  My response,  “I know what it looks like. No one is having sex here. No-one is worth the expense. Euthenise the lot of them and start afresh. But you’...

 12.41am Thursday 18/02/2026 As Jupiter is my witness, I swear tonight, if that child cries again it’s going to get ugly. ... "Luka" is a critically acclaimed song by American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega. Released in May 1987, the song was a massive hit and won multiple awards. It seemed to come out of nowhere yet it talked about what everyone was well aware but was rarely reported in the media: child abuse.  It is a beautifully crafted song. I nearly named my son Luka. … I hear the child disintegrating. If the abuse was physical I would have been on it in a shot, acted immediately, decisively. I understand the system very well, it has powers to do things that I cannot. The single father is a fissure of toxicity with no adult outlet to relieve the pressure. An adult female would have more skills to escape the weaselling and dodging, the reek of the endless lies, the determination to manifest a deranged version of the world.  The child howls until he makes no sound at a...

  How much land do Aboriginal Australian people own, control or co-manage? Australia’s Indigenous Land Estate (2024) The state of Western Australia- the land mass is nearly five times the size of Texas, and twice the size of Alaska. Land tenure recognises our land rights. Ownership comes in many forms depending on the dispossession history of each state or territory. It has never been easy.   In 2026 a non-Indigenous person attempted to set off an explosive device amongst a 300-strong group of Aboriginal people, lots of little kids, and allies wearing the red, black and yellow colours in an annual peaceful rally in Perth, the capital of Western Australia. In Australia the grand daughter of the enslaved can own the land in two generations. Legally, ethically and permanently. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land. .... Maya Angelou - And Still I Rise Link

  1.16am Canberra Some are afflicted more than others.  By weather patterns, atmospheric pressure, sunlight, full moons. I’m writhing in surplus electricity waiting for rain relief. 8th-century Palladianism was a dominant, restrained architectural style in Britain, Ireland, and America, revivalist in nature and based on the symmetrical, classical principles of 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio. It prioritized balanced proportions, temple-front porticos, and rusticated bases. A short piece … I’d accepted sight unseen. It was only temporary while I was waiting for my home to be built. The entrance was a long, straight, pale driveway off a wide tree-lined street.  The driveway opened out on both sides into a wide concourse skirting a big, white building. Separated into two wings by a central entrance and the staircase to the upper floor.  Every dwelling had a balcony and windows overlooking the smooth pale apron of concrete. The lights were never off, there...