My Corner of Australia
WE WRITE POEMS
asks us to describe a disaster that proved to be a godsend.
(It wanted to be prose!)
UPHEAVAL
Upheaval.
The leaving of one country for another.
The year 1974.
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We were leaving South Africa.
Our destination New Zealand.
There we would find
Prettiness,
Relations,
And an English atmosphere.
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Consider our situation......
A sick mother in tow,
Plus two young children.
Crates packed,
Car organised.
Bridges burnt.
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A letter!
An Oil Crisis in the Middle East!
A shortage of fuel!
The ship could go no further than Australia!
What to do?
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Australia did not appeal....
Beaches,
Cities,
Deserts.......
Not for us.
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We wanted New Zealand.
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But we took the plunge regardless.
After all, we'd burnt our bridges.
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We stayed in Australia.
We could not be happier.
*
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GREEN BATTLE
We take miracles for granted in this technological age;
Something's a Nine Days' Wonder then ho-hum.
We forget that we are privileged to see the things we see;
We accept that there are greater things to come.
Of all the generations that have lived upon this earth,
Only ours has seen the wonders that we see;
Plants in the act of growing! Flowers opening-up!
Made possible by slow photography!
Before this time we would pass a hedge and see climbers that had climbed;
They were so still and fragile and benign;
Maybe there'd be a tremor as a little breeze passed by
But of 'tooth and claw' there wasn't any sign.
But now we know they're rampant, quite determined as they climb,
Trampling over each other in the fight,
Pushing other plants away, strangling them, indeed,
Determined they'll be first to reach the light!
We see these miracles on our screens, and miracles they are;
We yawn and say 'I've seen all that before.'
But sometimes we should pause and think how wonderful it is
That we're the first to study Nature's war!
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2 comments:
Our generation (I'm the eldest in my immediate family) has seen so many amazing things, I've lost count. Things we couldn't even imagine. Things Jules Verne couldn't even imagine.
But I still wonder what happened to the promise—in the 60s they promised us computers to run our houses (okay, some rich people have those now) and robots who would do the housework. It's that robot I want. Sure, it would be nice to set the thermostat and turn on the house lights from my cell phone, but I demand to have a toilet-cleaning, tub-scrubbing, wall-washing robot. Much handier than a man on the moon.
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel
Crates packed,
Car organised.
Bridges burnt.
Yep, that sounds like a story.
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