Shane Strange
Sketches preparatory to an as yet unwritten children’s book
Young Duck is getting ready for his first day at school. Mother Duck is quiet. ‘Why are you quiet, Mother Duck?’ asks Young Duck. ‘Because’ says Mother Duck ‘I equate significant milestones in your life with the inevitable narrowing of opportunities in mine. It is unfair, I know, but I need a moment to retrieve myself from the existential angst that, if left festering, might consume me.” (show illustration)
Junior Bear is helping Papa Bear. Together they are building a letter box. Look at the letter box. It is a red letter box. Junior Bear asks ‘Papa Bear, why is the letter box red?’ ‘Because, Junior Bear,’ begins Papa Bear ‘ in a class society my labour is alienated to the point where I can only show my resistance through meaningless symbols of solidarity that mask my tacit complicity with the system.’ (show illustration)
It is a lovely day in the park. Little Iguana is flying a kite. Look at it soar! Baby Turtle is getting older. Look at her mature! Little Crocodile is playing with lipstick. Look at him experiment! Junior Panda knows she really likes girls. Look at her hiding! Papa and Papa Iguana are watching Little Iguana. Look at them overturn preconceptions! Little Baby Possum feels responsible for her parents’ divorce. Look at her self-blaming! Daddy Ocelot feels weighed down by the tropes of masculinity. Look at him conform! It is a lovely day in the park. (show illustration)
Note: “Sketches preparatory to an as yet unwritten children’s book” was previously published in the Recent Work Press (Canberra) anthology: Tract (2017, eds. Paul Munden and Monica Carroll) and is republished here with permission.