Anisha Pillarisetty
Anisha Pillarisetty is a radio producer and presenter at Radio Adelaide and a journalist at On the Record, living on unceded Kaurna Yerta. She is currently in her third year of university studying creative writing and journalism.
Remember to not talk gently when announcing the news, especially if you’re on radio
summers are long and the sky curdles quick
a game:
splashes of cloud or congealing milk left in the bright of the sink
skin circles back into itself
turning the colour of mud flaps on Dad’s old Maruti van bogged after
the first shock of rain
radio says 2020 broke records here
- 1. the third warmest
- 2. the fifth wettest
- 3. the eighth sunniest
- 4. the
radio also says there is a moon wobble
Zoom out to find the Indian Ocean on Google Maps and the searching
blue
is hurled against the window with the moon. The wind is torn between remembering
the kind of rain that disturbs bird calls into static
the kind of rain that is wanting
the Indian Ocean unspools
the tops of the gum trees like a tarp and it sounds like:
- 1. dripping stripes on a gourd sold cheap by the roadside
- 2. your fingers counting the air
- 3. ballooning curtains when my hands
were still small
your freedom – is it mine?
bigger than the cling-clang
at your waist
your laughter is tomatoes in hessian sifted through
1. too soft
2. too green
3. the coins are hesitant to leave the cloth
summer circles
skin.