Space

Ways of Seeing (in Space)

Ways of Seeing

No man, shit man I’m sitting in a tree.

Jas’ but I found a nice spot, you should check it all leafy and shit prawn – there these bark type shavings they’re hanging down like Ou Man Fanie’s white beard – except brown you know. You know what it’s like; being in that ouens beard all warm.

And it’s fokkin’ freezing man!

Look at those prawns down there on the grass man. Got there larny jerseys and beanies and I got me my jersey right here boi, in Ou Fanie’s tree-beard and my brain’s my beanie!

And it’s the highest tree around hey. It takes someone like me to find this spot, you know, I mean you can’t be some PHD oke and expect to find yourself like me man – living the good life – like those okes would never think like that you know? They’re too busy looking at their books and thesis laptops and shit. They never look up. Now that’s the mark of a man. I’ll tell you now, to know to look up and when to climb up a tree. But you can’t just look up all the time or you’ll look like a fokkin’ hippo-sword-swallower prawn – you know – a real man knows exactly when to look up and which tree is just right for climbing.

And how to climb it, now that my friends, that’s another story that I’m afraid is going to have to remain a secret. But let me just say that there’s a reason I wear track pants when I go out…

But there these other prawns that chill around the grass and pavement and wear these caps and short pants and shit even if it’s like fokkin’ freezing or raining you know and they throw stones up at the tree all the time you know like they try to hit this one part and then call and shout and stuff when they do… like “Hey, rockspider!” and shit. I don’t know what the fuck it means… I’d look it up in a dictionary but you know I already know it’s got something to do with trees man. It’s the kind of tree that I sit in – it’s Latin.

And it takes a clever oke to figure that hey, a real man knows stuff like that.

But this stone lands next to me on my spot, it bounced off this branch. I don’t bother looking down at those other prawns though this airplane flies past and I check it. It’s this big thing in the cold blue sky and the sun bounces off it for a bit at this one angle and the sun goes in my eyes.

And for a moment my face is warm and I’m all blinded, I can’t see shit but I can feel that I’m there and everything – for that bit – was perfect, perfect.