Close Menu
Honi Soit
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    •  “Like diaspora, pollen needs to bescattered to different places to survive and grow”: Dual Opening of ‘Germinate/Propagate/Bloom’, and ‘Last Call’ at 4A Centre of Contemporary Asian Art
    • Akinola Davies Jr. on My Father’s Shadow, Namesakes, and Nostalgia: An Interview
    • Into the Blue: Underwater Robots Unveil the Secrets of Norfolk Island’s Deep
    • Ancient Reef Cores Reveal Fragile Future for the Great Barrier Reef
    • Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, and Rameau walk into the Oldest Sydney Church
    • The Raftsmen: An Interview with Dr. Chadden Hunter — Sydney Film Festival Exclusive
    • The Anarchy 1138-53: to play or to plunder?
    • The Wrong Gods Review: Sacred Soil and Shifting Futures
    • About
    • Print Edition
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    • Writing Comp
    • Advertise
    • Locations
    • Contact
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
    Honi SoitHoni Soit
    Monday, June 16
    • News
    • Analysis
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • University
    • Features
    • Perspective
    • Investigation
    • Reviews
    • Comedy
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    Honi Soit
    Home»Writing Competition

    A Ballad on the Boardwalk

    A shortlisted piece in the Fiction section of the Honi Soit Writing Competition 2021.
    By Will SolomonSeptember 6, 2021 Writing Competition 3 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Sitting some six-hundred metres west of Praça do Comércio,
    On a Southern post of Portugal’s coast, a man with a needle in his hand
    Attempts to touch me.

    –

    With The Woman In the Dunes by Kobo Abe in my hands,
    I am resting, reading on the bay. The novel is about sand, you could say,
    A woman, a man, and other things.

    A battered voice begins to sing – A frail man by the bank,
    Leaning on the breakwater brick – He’s purple and pale, sick.
    A calloused king, hair mank, thick.

    He’s wearing a woven hat, sandals slapping at his scabbing heels,
    Near enough to where I’ve sat to hear. He feels along the balustrade
    And eyes the fleeting passers-by who sprawl across the esplanade.

    He pulls his penis from his pants and starts to piss upon the wall,
    A dozen voices call. Who is this man of mischief?
    Has he no qualms at all?

    Driven by this sordid shock, the flock around disperse and scowl
    Before he puts away his cock and starts to curse and raise his hand:
    A middle finger and a growl.

    The others have fled, I stay a while (so as not to leave a page unread)
    And smile at the thought that this is no Belgian fountain –
    The Port of Lisbon has this instead.

    I hide my book back in my bag and glide my sunnies down my nose
    To note what now is in his hand: another jabbing instrument.
    No, not his hose, a simple, silver syringe.

    I cringe at the apprehension. He presses the skin on his side
    And stretches it wide to create the tension needed to slide the needle’s little incision
    In with a sullied surgeon’s precision.

    He ceases shooting up, skin uncut, interrupted by my motions
    And the notion that I, solely unfazed by his urination,
    Judged him now, some abomination.

    He lurches, hurtling to a run, with an outstretched arm,
    With a sweaty, sunburnt palm, and begs me in his native tongue
    Some string of things I can’t comprehend.

    I contort my back in an awkward bend, so as not to have those fevered fingers
    With bitten up ends poke me harsh enough to note the pressure.
    I stoke the heat and retreat, hell for leather.

    Fifteen metres now, I turn and gleam the needle, still unused, protruding
    From his grip. He spits and spirals with a wild sadness. I’m glad I haven’t
    Shit myself, I hadn’t planned for this.

    These were memories of a day I remember most acutely,
    Dare anyone refute me.

    Honi Soit Writing Competition 2021 writing competition

    Keep Reading

    Award Winners – SERENDIPITY – 2023 Honi Soit Writing Competition

    I think Yoko Ono would like my neighbour

    Hearts, Hands

    Petrichor /ˈpɛtrʌɪkɔː/

    SOMETHING LIKE HAPPY

    Serendipity

    Just In

     “Like diaspora, pollen needs to bescattered to different places to survive and grow”: Dual Opening of ‘Germinate/Propagate/Bloom’, and ‘Last Call’ at 4A Centre of Contemporary Asian Art

    June 15, 2025

    Akinola Davies Jr. on My Father’s Shadow, Namesakes, and Nostalgia: An Interview

    June 11, 2025

    Into the Blue: Underwater Robots Unveil the Secrets of Norfolk Island’s Deep

    June 11, 2025

    Ancient Reef Cores Reveal Fragile Future for the Great Barrier Reef

    June 11, 2025
    Editor's Picks

    Part One: The Tale of the Corporate University

    May 28, 2025

    “Thank you Conspiracy!” says Capitalism, as it survives another day

    May 21, 2025

    A meditation on God and the impossible pursuit of answers

    May 14, 2025

    We Will Be Remembered As More Than Administrative Errors

    May 7, 2025
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok

    From the mines

    • News
    • Analysis
    • Higher Education
    • Culture
    • Features
    • Investigation
    • Comedy
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Misc

     

    • Opinion
    • Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Social
    • Sport
    • SRC Reports
    • Tech

    Admin

    • About
    • Editors
    • Send an Anonymous Tip
    • Write/Produce/Create For Us
    • Print Edition
    • Locations
    • Archive
    • Advertise in Honi Soit
    • Contact Us

    We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.

    © 2025 Honi Soit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Accessibility

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.