“Under the hammer, blessed with character, a driveway absolved of tree fall, another pearly-eyed crow, a year’s worth of indecision on the compost heap…”
The text includes samples from the property section of the local Adelaide newspaper, which I then matched with images of houses and their surroundings in my immediate neighbourhood.
Yet none of these places is quite as it seems. What is going on behind closed doors, the venetian blinds, the corrugated iron? Why is there fencing wire on a lamp-post? A sprig of wattle in the middle of the road? A skeleton on the nature strip? Perhaps a clue in misheard conversations, broken trust, unreliable memory… and all around, the signs of leakage…
• official selection and finalist nomination, Poetic Films, Carmarthen Bay Film Festival (Wales, May, 2020);
• published in Verity La (October, 2019).
Leakage Out of the Box “Confit” as in orange duck, Tasmanian salmon, raspberries (“coulis”?) Under the Hammer or something like that, according to the trainee chef next door, Blessed with Character assuming rainbow lorikeets cease their interference, blackbirds and Unsurpassable febrile house sparrows keep heads below sight lines, trade places with Timeless Elegance Norwegian rats, Siamese, Burmese, Egyptian varieties of deathwatch. Exquisite Entertainment Sash windows (yes, still), as we struggle for fresh air, a driveway absolved A Pleasure to Present of tree fall, the emergent possibility of brown snakes. “Six-thirty, she said, Prime City Fringe I’m sure”. OK, then, GSM, IPA, aged single malt. Overrun with Effortless Chic centipedes, millipedes, snails, slugs, we fail the termite test (“Help me...”). Prestigious Enclave Kookaburras? Another pearly-eyed crow? “Fuck you, we’re going fishing.” Beautifully Preserved A whiff of kerosene, Little Lucifers, fungal spores in fan-forced exhaust. Nature’s Paradise “Did you tighten the batten screws?” Clear the downpipes? Rising damp Peace and Potential infects my toes, corrodes the conversation, a year’s worth of indecision Varying Terrain on the compost heap (“Well, did you?”). I know nothing about the pruning Brilliantly Designed saw, the broken palings. Dog lust wanes. Marrowbones trip our recovery.