#30 Spice Archives • The Suburban Review

Spice/Species/Specific

Spirit softened / by calloused hands, passed from merchant to missionary / to foreign school through fluent French negotiations / regarding the terms of exchange.

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Sometimes it’s like my body doesn’t exist and I’m just a spirit floating between spaces. But sometimes I’m all charged up and I feel as if I need to touch someone and be touched or I’ll shiver into sparks. Do you ever feel that?

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unfinished conversation

Brian Obiri-Asare

it’s Monday morning / cockatoos all be screeching / and the wailing’s been getting under / my black skin. and he’s been finding / his people back in East Legon.

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Hot Goss

Tayla Colley

Page 2: Panel 1: The women have beads of sweat on their faces. The woman in the white t-shirt holds up a phone to the other woman and she says, ‘and check out Jessie’s new boo. He’s a Woolies ‘direct to boot’ guy… if you catch my drift.’ The woman in the striped shirt points towards the phone. There is small white text against the black background above her head that reads, “ooh ur naughty. He he he.’ Panel 2: The women leaned away from each other, the red now colours their entire faces. The woman in white says, ‘damn. I’m gonna need a drink! Hahaha.’ There is a small white text above the woman in a striped shirt that reads, ‘uhuh.’ Panel 3: A large panel spanning across the middle of the page is mostly red with two faces pressed together. Beads of sweat are placed across the panel. The left face has her eyes closed and mouth open as she says, ‘no seriously it’s…it’s too much!! I’M SO HOT!!’ The right face is looking up with tears in her eyes and she says, ‘I can’t feel my tongue!!!’ Panel 4: The two women have an overwhelmed, absent look on their faces. They are both coloured entirely red as their faces splash down into the bowls in front of them. Centred above them is a waiter holding a pitcher of water with a look of shock on his face. He is drawn in black and white, matching the black and white scene around the women. Panel 5: A far establishing shot reveals a restaurant sign that reads, ‘hot hot HOT POT!!’ Two small red figures stand out in the sea of black and white as they are slumped over their table with waves of heat around them. A waiter stands in front of their table with one arm on his hip as he says, ‘some people just can’t handle their chilli.’

Tayla Colley is an Eora/Sydney-based artist perfecting the skill of drawing multiple images that look the same but are slightly different.

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Cover Art – Ella Ballhausen

Ella Ballhausen

An image taken at night outdoors. The bottom of the image is a photo of steel tea kettles sitting on a fire, coals burning underneath. There are hues of black, brown, and amber— flames are emerging to the left side of the kettles, and grass appears to be burning; lighting up the left side of the image orange. In the bottom right corner there are some light-painting squiggles in a neon orange— as if someone has waved a burning sparkler across the image. There’s an ambience of warmth, of being drawn in close.

Ella Ballhausen is a Tasmanian-based artist, bushwalking guide and ranger. Ballhausen places her camera in the natural landscape to create new dialogue with herself and her environment, so as to change her understanding of Nature.

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Every Ode to Girlhood is an Elegy

Donnalyn Xu

The late nights sink into early mornings, and I begin to write when everyone is asleep. To survive and honour my girlhood, I must carve my own world of interiors.

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