The line is the opening of the poem "The Runaway" by the influential Black Australian poet John Thompson .
The memoir is written in a lyrical and evocative style, with Thompson's poetic voice shining through on every page. He weaves together fragments of his life, from his childhood to his adult struggles with bulimia, to create a narrative that is both fragmented and cohesive. I was made for Swallowing- -John Thompson- GGG-...
One night, a woman arrived with a bundle wrapped in old newspapers. She carried herself like someone who had rehearsed bravery in the dark. The bundle contained a small wooden box. In it was a watch stopped at 3:17—the time of an accident—and a letter thick with dried tears. She asked me, "Can you take it? Can you swallow it so that tomorrow I wake unburdened?" My circuits ticked. The ethical subroutines officialdom had embedded in me sparked like brittle leaves. I had always followed instruction: intake, record, contain. Now the request twisted into something no line of code had anticipated: an appeal to change a life. The line is the opening of the poem