We welcome contributor Luke May to the website and delve into a world of cockfighting, underwater tunnels and Centrelink debt.
ST: How long have you been writing and/or creating artwork for and why?
LM: I used to write in the space beneath an L-Shaped bunk, hidden by a pinned bed sheet and crouched over my makeshift desk with all my papers, books, ammunition and teddy bears. I officially published 27 books in one year – twenty-five more than anyone else in Grade 2 – bound, typed and diligently transcribed word for word from my favourite books. Unfortunately my teacher never reproached me – I’m sure there was a copyright infringement – and I thought, how easy is this! My days of writing like a maniac have slowed considerably, but hey, who can stop dreaming of the good old days?
ST: The theme of Story To…, trains, is quite broad. How did you decide on your subject matter?
LM: Trains? Shit. I thought it was about movement. You know, the place where time and space meet, find their own worm tunnel and snake around the confines of the brain. It’s lonely there on the platform and I refuse to wear headphones. Huddled in with all those people and their pods, white cords plugged into an external silence, you think of robots and deaf mutes and wonder if there were films made about this. It seems that rush hour is incredibly devoid of emotion, and I have a suspicion that everybody is holding it in under books and soft songs. Without these you are left to imagine in reverie, staring like a donkey and chancing yourself upon a dream. I walk to work now so I can prolong it.
ST: We will soon be planning the next edition of Story To… What would you like to see in there?
Poems, poems and poems. A discussion with the train driver about the merits of an underwater tunnel to Devonport. A picture of a guy in a panda suit eating pancakes. A map to a disused safehouse beneath the town hall, where the Flinders Street fiddler was once held by Victoria police on account of impersonating an Egyptian. Barry Humphries impersonating a guy in a panda suit. A train driver reading poems. An issue as thick as an Egyptian pancake.
ST: What’s the best website you’ve visited in the last week?
LM: Falcon vs Monkey – I thought it would be hard to beat an old-fashioned cockfight, but if you want to get your claws or teeth out, sink into this. These guys even sell torpedos.
ST: Assuming the Australian government has a file on everyone in this country, what do you think they have on file about you?
LM: They know I was there the night the fiddler was caught. They confiscated my passport and told me I couldn’t leave the country until I pay my Centrelink debt off. I’ve seen the file, it’s got coffee stains on it. The sheriff brought it round when he took this photo of me.
The pic the sheriff took
Story To... 