Jennifer’s Mars Glow Buying coffee thirtieth birthday running late newspaper reads Jennifer Aniston is reportedly spending $20,000 a month on beauty treatments, including $400 for neck cream, which is apparently made from crystals from Mars. Next, the Herald covers her age her profession and her interests chemical peels and laser treatments. This is the end of the news article. The girl in front of me cradles her latte as she nudges and tugs a carbon-fibre-framed stroller and purrs with concern for Jennifer. — Alice Allan
life in the petrie dish golden staph — along with every living thing on the planet (religious zealots aside) wants to keep living it’s why we originally farmed blue mould — to protect the species we haughtily believe most important. these microscopic resistance fighters attack catheters & operation wounds infest intravenous lines — fly through sterile air — fan-forced by supersonic sneezes & are particularly fond of the most intimate act of humanity — contact. can you blame nature for kicking back — beefing up her e. coli stocks — new t.b. strains hitting the gym — ebola 2.0 no doubt already beta testing now the bugs are becoming stronger than our last-line drugs — heated debates over carbon & climate change may soon be redundant — Gareth Roi Jones Dare Dare we mention the dark and dreadful sordid trite Dare we explore caverns where life-wrack danger detritus complicate a sunny-seeming view Daring is courage fear Dare we explore — Lerys Byrnes
Alice Allan is a Melbourne writer and editor whose work has been published in journals such as Rabbit, Going Down Swinging and Offset.
Gareth Roi Jones is a member of the dandylion collective, a pixel-connected writing group based in Adelaide.
Lerys Byrnes is a Melbourne based poet who has wide experience in Adult Education as teacher and learner.