Ah yes, all this death
because we could not listen
and a bus
winding through
the renamed country road
once a walking track
now paved and framed
a meter wide by
remnant grasses
poof! all up in smoke
I hope they were relieved at least
you a poof, me a poof
shall we dance then?
yeah baby, hair ablaze
black ash is good
white ash is bad
and the opposite goes for smoke
that’s what I learned yesterday
on Widjabul Wia-bal Country
with the roo grass
it wants to burn
you hear it crackle
the important thing is
to see these hills
for what they are:
a millenias-old ecology
managed
a Lore and people who survived everything
fighting fire with fire.
Of course you’re scared.
You even had a friend
in the community hall
flames encroaching
the green frogs are turning brown
the koalas all but gone
and they want to put another dam
on another sacred site
maybe it feels like a lifetime ago,
the longest years in the history of our lives
since we touched down
the plane wings covered in ash
but once that door is open
it does not close
the hinges squeak in a distant memory
and another summer
is just around the corner
Sarah Hall
East Lismore
Ah yes, all this death
because we could not listen
and a bus
winding through
the renamed country road
once a walking track
now paved and framed
a meter wide by
remnant grasses
poof! all up in smoke
I hope they were relieved at least
you a poof, me a poof
shall we dance then?
yeah baby, hair ablaze
black ash is good
white ash is bad
and the opposite goes for smoke
that’s what I learned yesterday
on Widjabul Wia-bal Country
with the roo grass
it wants to burn
you hear it crackle
the important thing is
to see these hills
for what they are:
a millenias-old ecology
managed
a Lore and people who survived everything
fighting fire with fire.
Of course you’re scared.
You even had a friend
in the community hall
flames encroaching
the green frogs are turning brown
the koalas all but gone
and they want to put another dam
on another sacred site
maybe it feels like a lifetime ago,
the longest years in the history of our lives
since we touched down
the plane wings covered in ash
but once that door is open
it does not close
the hinges squeak in a distant memory
and another summer
is just around the corner