gratitude in infinitude
Swimming out of Brisbane international into bladerunner stew; my body inseparable from the sticky air … into the aircon folds of a cab driven by a russsian-turkish-australian. He is a film student. Do you like Andre Tarkovsky? He kills the meter.
We are lucky to find ourselves in a good country he says, no struggle. My family gets much support here. The government is very generous; a billion dollars to the poor Indonesians … His wife calls. Please excuse me.
I watch the city streak by and think of the bloodied figures of office workers running different directions in Tarkovsky’s ‘The Sacrifice’, all trying to get away in different directions; the violent sea of human confusion where the generous reign supreme. The billion-dollar gift is not pure, i think, not even clean. One billion dollars of debt to repay, offered at a time when it cannot be refused: a strategic gift of the highest order. Why not give a billion dollar donation to the UN to dispense as necessary. Johnny? Research might show I am out of order, but now I am jet lagged and want to vomit. Johnny is holding my head against the pavement saying - you ungrateful prick - how you always bite the hand that feeds you.
I leave my new friend to fiddle his meter (see you on campus) and approach the sodden Belvedere. No key, but a used South African phone card works just as well. And now I am plugged back into the flows of recognition where even the unfamiliar say ‘hey dako - how was your trip? And their smell is close and strong and we can read each other’s desires like we are one body.
.
We are lucky to find ourselves in a good country he says, no struggle. My family gets much support here. The government is very generous; a billion dollars to the poor Indonesians … His wife calls. Please excuse me.
I watch the city streak by and think of the bloodied figures of office workers running different directions in Tarkovsky’s ‘The Sacrifice’, all trying to get away in different directions; the violent sea of human confusion where the generous reign supreme. The billion-dollar gift is not pure, i think, not even clean. One billion dollars of debt to repay, offered at a time when it cannot be refused: a strategic gift of the highest order. Why not give a billion dollar donation to the UN to dispense as necessary. Johnny? Research might show I am out of order, but now I am jet lagged and want to vomit. Johnny is holding my head against the pavement saying - you ungrateful prick - how you always bite the hand that feeds you.
I leave my new friend to fiddle his meter (see you on campus) and approach the sodden Belvedere. No key, but a used South African phone card works just as well. And now I am plugged back into the flows of recognition where even the unfamiliar say ‘hey dako - how was your trip? And their smell is close and strong and we can read each other’s desires like we are one body.
.