My poem "Waiting" which I sent to the list some time ago is an attempt to describe being "off". I am resending it as a contribution to the current thread of putting being "off" into words. By way of explanation the "torturers horse" is a reference to W.H. Auden's poem "Musee de Beaux Arts" in which he discusses suffering and it's place in the scheme of things. Dennis Waiting. Movement is memory; my thoughts, a sluggish Congo, out of a heart of darkness. Still waiting, now at the core of the galaxy, where space/time changes meaning and not even thought escapes the event horizon. Not even thought. Still waiting. So still that the torturer's horse uses me for a scratching post. I am still and I am waiting. A small bird moves on the edge of vision; tiny, exquisite, busy with doing. I am still. Watching and waiting. Enduring the horse, exploring the river, ignoring the grasp of gravity, and far beyond the comprehension of yellow winged honeyeaters. Dennis Greene