BURNING THROUGH THE SKY

Ben Peek, guest blogging

It's almost lunchtime and already pushing 30 degrees when I decide to go for a walk to sit by a river.

The park is full of cars and people; families sitting under canopies, Turkish men with sheesha pipes, Indian boys playing cricket, Muslim women fanning themselves under white hajib and young married couples with their designer children and picnic baskets.

There is no wind, the park is still apart from the noise, and everyone's slowly getting red and drowsy from the heat.

From 'Summertime in the Suburbs' by Lynda Hawryluk.

It's easy to show parts of Sydney up poorly, just like it is with any city. You do it as you pass basketball courts without hoops, as you pass the parks with broken swing sets, and the community centres scattered with broken windows like dead eyes. You experience small shops closing, only to be replaced by malls and chains outlets from the States. Some suffer at the hands of your personal history with family, relationships, and experiences you can't shake. Ground zero for the psyche. It's easy. All of it. I've done it--done all of it.

I can do it here with two photos, but I'll only do it next to Lynda Hawryluk's poem.



(Ben Peek's story 'The Dreaming City' appears in The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Jeff's Evil Monkey: Admit it! Admit it! Admit it! Ad-- Ben: You been doing that all day, when you going to be finished? Jeff's Evil Monkey: Never! It's funny! Ben: No, it ain't. Look, Monkey, we could spend our time here making masturbation jokes every day, but you'd be missing your chance. Jeff's Evil Monkey: My chance? Ben: Yeah, your chance to say something important. Jeff's Evil Monkey: Without dick jokes? Is that possible. Ben: Yeah. Jeff's Evil Monkey: So, like, say something, y'know, culturally valuable? Ben: Contribute to society. Jeff's Evil Monkey: Okay. Ben: Right. Go on. Jeff's Evil Monkey. Let me think. Ben: Sure. Jeff's Evil Monkey: Okay. Got it. Ben: Say. Jeff's Evil Monkey: Okay, okay: George Bush hates black people. Ben: Duh.)