by Ewan Robertson
Everybody does
because who can’t not?
Husbands and Wives,
dresses and suites,
flowers at tables.
A family,
crying together,
Because who can’t not.
Under heart shaped moons,
and sunlight that smells like forever
Even air can taste sweet when a day is all about you
About you, and your love, and your loves’ love and every bodies love for you.
Because who can’t not.
“What a pretty bride
And a handsome groom”
That’s what they say
because who can’t not.
When a family watches its whitest swan
Sign herself away to its most available goose.
As he leads her dance, and she cuts his cake.
But I do not suit dresses,
And I can’t lead dances,
and I want to do more than cut cake,
Because who can’t not.
But there will be someone in the way,
because who can’t not,
be.
Always and forever.
Him.
Another him.
I will have to love a man,
because who can’t not.
So will I not get a Wedding,
I will only get to be wed,
and that is nothing to cry about.
Grandmothers won’t come,
and fathers talk hushed.
With my friends they haven’t met,
or with his friends I don’t like,
because who can’t not.
It will be a day of husbands, in suits, at tables.
A boring dowdy affair.
And all because I dared.
To cry at weddings.
Because who can’t not.
–
Crying, laughing, and snot rocketing to the forefront of Meanjin’s emerging talent is Ewan Robertson (he/him). A recent graduate from the Queensland University of Technology’s Drama BFA program, alongside formal training in technical production, creative development, and improvisation, Ewan is an experienced sound designer, actor, and dramaturg. Coming from a background in Devised Theatre, training with Backbone Youth Arts, Queensland Theatre, and international company Mammalian Diving Reflex, this creative was born and raised amongst Brisbane’s independent theatre. Resulting in roles on and beyond the stage in: TheatrePUNK’s new works of 2022 PASHUN and BARRIERS, Polymorphic production’s 2023 season of The History of The Devil, Grace Wilson’s Very Fine People Directed by Wesley Enoch for QUT’s 2024 Acting cohort, a Blatherskite radio drama Opal springs, The Travelling Rose Theatre’s Crows Nest 2025, as well as his inclusion in Brisbane’s 2025 Fresh Ink cohort with ATYP.
This piece was submitted for the 2025 Annual Edition of Glass.
