Long-standing readers of this blog (i.e. me) will recall that in 2024 my poem “Jetlag World” earned a second life in the Vagabond Pres anthology, Living Systems: Poetry from Asia Pacific.

Shortly thereafter, I was humbled and proud to learn of the inclusion of my John Tranter tribute, “Terminal 1: Aer Lingus”, in Best of Australian Poems 2024.

Well, hot (ha) on the heels of these two funtold pieces of news, I am super thrilled to announce that another poem of mine, entitled “(OCCULUS) RIFTS”, has just dropped online in Cordite Poetry Review.

Huzzah!

The theme for Cordite No. 115 is Space. No bloody wonder, then, that the truly bulk ace and full untold alicia sometimes is the guest poetry editor for the issue.

Cordite Books published alicia’s spellbinding poetry collection, Stellar Atmospheres, last year, and it’s no exaggeration to say that she’s so-called Australia’s–if not the so-called terrestrial world’s–foremost exponent of space-themed poetics.

For this reason alone I am thrilled to be included in the issue.

“(OCCULUS) RIFTS” is a poem about, well, the Marvel supervillain Occulus; Oculus Rift, the virtual reality (VR) headset; and the compilation album Rifts by Oneohtrix Point Never.

Although, of course, that’s just the short version.

One slightly longer version is that I wrote this poem after visiting a friend who was housesitting in the Victorian high country. The place was loaded with equipment, including a VR headset.

Our oldest son, who was just then beginning to become curious about gaming, wanted to try out the headset. So I held him in my arms while he flew through virtual space, almost refusing to come back down to earth.