Constellations In March 2020, the city of Melbourne, Australia entered lockdown. Its residents would go on to endure more days locked down, in the strictest of conditions, than anywhere else in the world. The pandemic has profoundly changed the city – as a community, and as individuals. This was written as the storm was bearing down on us. The fever clinic is sparse and disorienting, overhead fluoros at once too

Solstice I. (The River) I am alone on a small crowded boat. Alone amongst couples and friends on winter holiday; alone amongst the taciturn crew. I am not on holiday. I came here for a different reason, to this festival of fire and darkness. I came here to be alone. But a shark shadow chased my plane across the ocean and swallowed me whole as we touched down, and now