Stu Hatton
repackaging ‘evil’
on the track to the city
a snake says, ‘trust me’,
and what could be
simpler? it’s just an
advertisement, but
clearly everyone
is implicated
/ way the ads burst
volumed at our outer
skin to nudge the inner
what big hoofs more
than a little tampering
with our brittle
/
forever
surrounded by cranes
fishing for significance
they have our dossiers
as if ‘connect’ means my
brand is your brand but
i can’t get no, no no no
Stu Hatton is a Melbourne-based poet, blogger and freelancer who teaches creative writing at Deakin University. He has a book-in-progress entitled How to be Hungry.
Hatton writes: ‘repackaging ‘evil’ ’ was composed while in transit. The bones of the poem were thumbed into my mobile phone. I remember seeing an advertisement at a train station with an evil-looking snake and the caption ‘Trust me’. That was the seed of the poem — it got me thinking about advertising, desire and the use of ‘evil’ imagery to market products. I can just picture the brainstorming session: ‘We need something edgy, dark, tempting...’