Bombing the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Claire Orchard (IIML, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
You’d be surprised how easy it is
to get a bomb into the National Gallery of Australia
in your handbag. Don’t take it in a backpack,
they take those off you at the front door,
although having said that, today they let this one guy
slip through undetected. He made it
as far as the Sidney Nolan Gallery
before he was spotted by a guard and sent packing.
But a handbag raises no eyebrows, especially
a bright orange leather one tucked under the arm
of a middle aged woman such as
myself. Standing in front of The Trial (1947),
the heavy weight of explosives
digging into my ribs, there is something about
Ned’s yellow eyes, sideways-looking at the judge
through the slot in his bucket-shaped helmet,
or maybe it’s the goat-faced policeman, gold
buttons all down his uniform, the chequered floor tiles
the colour of blood, it may even be the view
of green harbour, grey sky,
through the arched window,
I don’t know, maybe I’m just not as game
as Ned Kelly, all I know is
something has me
changing my mind about all this.
Claire Orchard grew up in the Hutt Valley and now lives with her family in Wellington. She has a BA in English from Massey University and is currently completing an MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) at Victoria University of Wellington. Her writing has been published in Penduline Press, the 2012 Eat Your Words anthology, and she has work appearing in upcoming issues of JAAM and 4th Floor.
