28 May 2012

ARTilley 2012

I'm doing an "Artist Residency" for ARTillery.

"'At Arm's Length' is an artistic exploration of one of the world's most pressing issues, arms trade, from a truly Australian perspective - at arm's length. Few of us here can really imagine the terror of living in armed conflict, or fully appreciate the consequences of unregulated arms trade. 12 artists tackle the issue through film, visual art, spoken word, performance, dance and music to uncover why the world needs an Arms Trade Treaty.

The possibility of an international Arms Trade Treaty will be tabled at the United Nations in July. 'At Arm's Length' forms part of hundreds of events around the world campaigning for such a treaty. Learn more about the issues here."

16 December 2011

steve austin

channelling better
stronger
faster
we can
rebuild
him
we have
the technology

07 December 2011

i dont care

i don’t care
about yr arbitrary badges
of democratic privilege
or the shiny pointy star-shape
on your black issue velcro
puffin up yr uniformed chest
yr armour-plated body suit
or yr sunday bloody sunday best
swaggered at the church of economic risk
you are fucking enormous
with thick batons and guns and riot shields
across borders you stand
alone one foot in each zone

and i don’t care
about yr number or yr status or yr position
or yr income or yr fifo
or yr plasma or yr solar panels
or yr make and model and type and colour and correct sheen
as if you are as important as a blade of grass or grain of rice
or an adultery death squad

i don’t care
because our words are bullets
our anti-military chants at the occupied places
when they’re spraying my brother’s faces
with canisters of police station pepper juice
a kind of spicy food
til we vomit in choreographed unison
a sitting troupe of vociferous subversion
our crazy screaming eyes
and you
you in a khaki burst of red misty pain
yelling move move move
yet we gather in an effort
to disallow the one percentile
to refuse yr capital access
to my open-mindshare
this time
up here
we’re collating names
at the source of the politic, the scent of the pain
we’re lifting long lights on beautiful borders
yr broken face in the bitumen
black boots bolder than my skin
unbroken in dissident cells
scratching the names of the guilty
on concrete – like the number of days
left in this stolen place
until every space is filled

i don’t care
that currency parity is reached again
that red rocks are worth more than ecosystems
that toxic stones are sifted and piled
and weighed and shipped and melted
into yr coins and guns and walls and detention centre cages
as democratic leaders deport those who uphold the rights
of those at risk those who climb trees and fences
and raise fists and spend busted lives
working for change
and my tears are as real as it gets
that subtle spill of salty recognition
that you and I are as close as it gets
in this global scene

i don’t care
that the mantra of the wealth accumulators
spin the spin of the coal seam fracks and uranium cracks
no more toxic than yr constant glare
and actions that keep people in concrete and steel
and razor wire at airports waiting
and I don’t care
I don’t care
I don’t care

performed at
http://www.facebook.com/events/111274048988760/

ARTillery’s Spoken Word night:
Tuesday 6th Dec 2011, 7.30pm
The Bird, William Street, Northbridge
http://artilleryfestival.com/perthevents.html