OnDusk

 Thank you for the visit, gentle readers. Image: graph of blog views 'Last 3 months' beginning in April upto 1 July 2026. Total views 21k Blog audience Image: List of countries in descending order starting with United States, Singapore, Brazil, Vietnam, Russia, Germany, Australia, United Kingdom, India, Bangladesh. Image: List continues of gentle readers in descending order Iraq, France, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Pakistan, Chile, Saudia Arabia and Spain. Always in my thoughts. Siv Parker House of Abundant Peace 2026

 3.15am Saturday 20 June 2026. A rainy night with an icy wind in Canberra, Australia. Living in protest; loathing a life in decay. Doing whatever you please; overpowering the human condition. Anger makes deceit easy, the flooding mind makes a human think they’ll get away with what their sweat reveals. … You’re not a doctor, mate. I’m not a medical doctor either but I was fairly sure I was hearing him die alone in the apartment above. A slow decline. The full body falls had ceased days ago. His blood was poisoning him. Could he even ask for help now if he wanted to? Under the circumstances, if he died the memories shared would lead with what a sweet, gentle person he was, with unlimited potential. … There’d be no mention that he’d been invaded a week or so before. An eruption of enraged males crashing about before several leapt from the balcony above and scrambled over my fence.  That had been uncomfortably close for me. I’d arrived at the House of Lions unable to walk.  I...

  Eight currawongs sitting in a tree.  2am 8 June 2026 Monday,  Canberra  On my return from Sorry Business, the autumn leaves are down to the stragglers. ... There is no English equivalent to Sorry Business. Once the leap was made – the written word caught up to the much older oral accounts – some words in common emerged. How’s your Quantum Physics? Start there gentle reader, discover quantum mechanics, be enthralled by Theory. The trigger for a period of retreat and self care – Sorry Business - is death. In perpetuity, melancholy. In the evertime, abundance. ... I used a quarter tank of premium unleaded to reduce my footprint in preparation for emergence of a new world order. Unlike the Covid-frenzy 2019, this time around I collapsed what I want and what I need into the same list. During Sorry Business, the necessary work continues.  I serviced my car so I’m able to go home, ten hours away, in an instant. I fixed my car stereo so I enjoy being in my car. I boug...

  After midnight and a decent downpour, Canberra, Australia. Manosphere:   online spaces that focus on masculinity, men’s rights, self-improvement and an opposition to women and/or feminism. Con men exploiting male insecurities. Giving full throat online, no filters, only to flame out by their own words. Note obvious extrapolation with this week’s highest ranking Netflix show, Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere and the current war in the Middle East. ... Glossary of enduring thoughts: Heterosexual – refers to the emotional, romantic and sexual attraction one gender has for the other. It’s biology. If the goal is a life of zero feels, no legal courtesies and to subjugate an entire gender, what is this new creation forming from the thin calved bio-matter? One-sided monogenism – what you think you have until you say it out loud in front of The Female Subject. Gooning – an elegant solution in these troubled times. Fuel has hit $2.42/litre unleaded and run out...

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...

  12.35am Satellites and drones pass over Canberra skies, most visible at night. The lower altitude flyers are amateurs cruising suburbs and arteries. I saw one swoosh past, in flames.  A lithium battery on fire or a tiny space craft crashing in inner North?  … Bladerunner (1982) is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles in 2019. Polluted and overcrowded, with towers of one bedroom units above and the wretched sliding around ground level in the dripping filth below. Rick (Harrison Ford) is hunting down humanoids; the 'replicants' are resisting 4 year lifespans. … For the first time, people I love and know, we hesitated – was it safe to attend any Australia Day events this year?  As it happened, there were two incidents, both terrorism: In Western Australia an explosive device set to detonate and capable of mass casualties failed to explode. In New South Wales, most news bulletins chose not to screen what was actually said from a stage to the converted. The full video...

  V.  Media Sunday night, Canberra, Australia In a clear sky, Betelgeuse arcs on my right, Jupiter is retrograde and Sirius and Procyon are bright tonight. If you were on Twitter a decade ago, you could feel when it began to decay. But there was a time before, when it hit the sweet spot. Of them all, the only digital platform I was interested in spending time on was Twitter. I spent about a year watching it. I decided what was important: Ethics & etiquette. Punctuation. I’m a writer, not a journalist. Tweetyarns would be live, and a maximum of 7 minutes between posts to optimize placement in the feed. Have a schedule, the discipline is good for me. Use my full name. … I thought about: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 2007 (French: Le Scaphandre et le Papillon) Hunger 2008 Son of Saul 2015 (Hungarian: Saul fia) What to say when it is difficult? How to get close enough? How to write the human condition? Who am I to tell the stories? ...

  IV.  Uniapon Pronounced:  U-nye-a-pon Part of the Queensland Literary Awards, the David Unaipon Award is for an outstanding unpublished manuscript by an emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer. Established in 1988, the award is named in honor of David Unaipon (1872–1967), a Ngarrindjeri author, inventor, and activist who was the first Aboriginal writer to be published in Australia. When I won the Uniapon, I hadn’t prepared a speech.  I really wanted to win that year. The Queensland Literary Awards 2012 had been cancelled by the Qld Government. The Awards went ahead in a tidal wave of volunteers and good will. There was no prize money as per previous years.  That was the award I wanted to win, so I finished my first manuscript in a month, drove with my sister to Queensland and submitted it at Avid Reader Bookshop, West End, Brisbane with 15 minutes to spare. Winners are invited to read from their manuscript.  I jumped on and rode the spect...

  III. Vagus Vagus: Latin for "wandering", "straying", "unsettled" I always ask first, can I touch you? Self care is his passage to redemption. I introduced mon loup to the vagus nerve. How to describe a sensation someone has never felt? That he may well have associated vagus nerve resets with the gambling resort in Nevada added to the spell. I’ve controlled the wind in my ears and the tidal pulsation in my neck ever since I can remember, before I learnt it was a function of substance.  In 2026, the head tilt and stretch is a common sight. I attempted to reach the nerve via one of the points in his hand, ”It’s soothing and no-one knows you’re doing it.” Like peeing in the sea. In my case, I’m hip deep and not just ankles. … Music can also stimulate in remarkable ways. Solo, Clean Bandit, Demi Lovato is a constant ebb and flow. … Tonight’s revelation: The Killers, When You Were Young It hits just right in places, getting stronger in time with the song. The...

  II  Yarndi   He called to ask, “You angry with me cuz?” “Yes.” His voice started to rise, “Why?” “You called him a dog and a maggot. I was very clear – don’t fuck around.” He tried to come at me with a reasonable tone, “But what’s that got to do with you?” … Months earlier we’d had a chance encounter after 20 years living on opposite sides of the country. When he asked me if I knew anyone, I was cautious. I’ve known him all his life, he has the health profile to be legit. I explained, “kinda yeah, but you’re better off getting medical cannabis. Cheaper, consistent quality, home delivered. And you get a real neat card saying you’re a registered user.” I let him know, while researching medical cannabis, I’d discovered 420 discussion sites and the diverse range of views, products, customers and dealers. Anyone reading the site for long enough could work out who was a street dealer. I may have been one of the very few who’d sidled upto a stranger on a 42...

Archived 2014 I’ll admit to a fleeting desire to change places with Sharon once, but otherwise I've always thought her welcome to her ugly life. I lived in the ugliest town in the Pilbara, and if my bulimic best friend forever hadn’t knocked herself out when she stumbled weakly in her laundry, I wouldn’t have watched Sharon try to force her ugly foot into my boot. Hand tooled leather, they had gaped at the calf and rendered me knock kneed with a Cuban heel. I was never more proud of my tiny feet while I watched Sharon grunt in despair. I’d had some concern because the boots were a little too big for me, but on her, there was no way she was getting her long kangaroo foot around the ankle bend. Sharon had invited herself around, then informed me we were going to the fair. They’d set up in a vacant lot close by, and I could see the ferris wheel rotating above the ridge of company houses at the end of my street. I didn’t want to go, not at the time she bashed on my...

  I.  Caucasians The seven year old said, why is the man showing people his penis? She’d been drawn to the window in a teachable moment, to see a nearby balcony. It had been gradual in the lead up to a fully naked man standing in full view in broad daylight. Some of the others had seen penis. What his penis looked like was dismissed as irrelevant. He had fast become a digestive tract attached to a penis, there was no other indication of a higher life form. He’s tanning, we heavily sanitized. But I’m a child, she said.  It looked like more of the same, until the fleshlight developed frizzy hair of an actual person of indeterminate gender. Fellatio on his balcony before all the kids had gone to bed. Sexual positions so awkward, surely this was a financial arrangement.  I’m confident none on our side of the street reciprocated with displays of vagina. A dick pic – always unwelcome and pathetic - had evolved into live action on a tiny balcony on a narrow street heavily l...