‘Hollywood on the Gold Coast’
POV: It’s almost the end
of the 1900s again
and your father figure
is set upon by sniffer dogs
at Gold Coast airport.
The deputised German Shepherds are slobbering.
Wet noses squished into the bag
containing the 8mm
handycam. Dad pleads
he mows lawns
for a living.
They can smell the buffalo
grass on me. That must be it.
The satchel is opened. One cop
rotates the video camera
in his blue-gloved hands
while another fossicks
the pockets. Apparently a year
feels longer when
you’re a kid
because novel happenings
and goings-on occur less
and less as you age. Later,
cockatoos smash berries against
the pavement. And your father figure
removes his glasses outside the Hard
Rock cafe to announce something
has shat in his eye. And something
has shat in his eye.
POV: A greenish-black
putrescence, streaky white, blob drops
into the afternoon end of the century.
Had the bird shat but 50 years earlier
she’d be painting
a place only nicknamed
the ‘gold coast’ (derogatory),
back when it was still called the South Coast
and was famous for price gouging piss
and smokes.
He uses his shirt to clean his glasses
and tells the story about the cockatoo
who lived with his nanna. The bird was
older than the house. Older than the street.
Tore through a flyscreen
one night and refused to leave.
Probably still there.
You would not believe how old they can get.
There are birds in those trees tonight
who could say: I was alive
as the Titanic sank and was still kicking
when Titanic became the highest
grossing film since
Jurassic Park.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Dan Hogan is the author of Secret Third Thing, which won the Five Islands Prize and Mary Gilmore Award, and was named one of the ‘best 25 Australian books of 2023’ by The Guardian. More of their work can be found at www.2dan2hogan.com.
of the 1900s again
and your father figure
is set upon by sniffer dogs
at Gold Coast airport.
The deputised German Shepherds are slobbering.
Wet noses squished into the bag
containing the 8mm
handycam. Dad pleads
he mows lawns
for a living.
They can smell the buffalo
grass on me. That must be it.
The satchel is opened. One cop
rotates the video camera
in his blue-gloved hands
while another fossicks
the pockets. Apparently a year
feels longer when
you’re a kid
because novel happenings
and goings-on occur less
and less as you age. Later,
cockatoos smash berries against
the pavement. And your father figure
removes his glasses outside the Hard
Rock cafe to announce something
has shat in his eye. And something
has shat in his eye.
POV: A greenish-black
putrescence, streaky white, blob drops
into the afternoon end of the century.
Had the bird shat but 50 years earlier
she’d be painting
a place only nicknamed
the ‘gold coast’ (derogatory),
back when it was still called the South Coast
and was famous for price gouging piss
and smokes.
He uses his shirt to clean his glasses
and tells the story about the cockatoo
who lived with his nanna. The bird was
older than the house. Older than the street.
Tore through a flyscreen
one night and refused to leave.
Probably still there.
You would not believe how old they can get.
There are birds in those trees tonight
who could say: I was alive
as the Titanic sank and was still kicking
when Titanic became the highest
grossing film since
Jurassic Park.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Dan Hogan is the author of Secret Third Thing, which won the Five Islands Prize and Mary Gilmore Award, and was named one of the ‘best 25 Australian books of 2023’ by The Guardian. More of their work can be found at www.2dan2hogan.com.