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DARLING RIVER BACK BLOCK SEQUENCE
12. My Father
(when ya raise ya camera the birds 'alf a kilometre fly away/
cameras and guns are all the same out 'ere/ the wild birds don't
even want ya lookin' at 'em anymore/ they hide their nests and
fly away ter feed/ they roost on the edge of sunset and sunrise/ far
away from the river so that you cannot follow 'em)/
there is
glass smashed either side of the new bitumen road all the way
from bre to bourke/ locals are building a glass wall/ so that they
don't have to see the land anymore/ dad said:
(none of ya 'ave
ter drink the beer but it's cleaner than the rain/ there's no more
festival of the fisheries up 'ere/ everybody is gettin' sick from
eatin' the fish and drinkin' the river water/ the yellow belly 'ave
this strange red line runnin' down 'em/ the blackfellas out at
wilcannia won't touch 'em/ the river's dead there's no fish/
the town's dead/ stay down in the city 'cause there's nothin'
up 'ere/ i'm eatin' vegetable soup every night/ i'm ten on the
cholestrol reading/ ten outa ten/ the river's dead/ i threw my
serapax in the garbage bin/ tell ya mother not ter take 'em/
it'll kill 'er)/
medication for after the stroke when my father's
eyes locked together/ the claypan collided with the sky/ and as
he fell backwards the ground became as hard as rock/
(patrick
rowe's dead from stroke and cholesterol/ after four warnings not
ter eat meat, drink and go out in the sun/ i'm on disprin everyday
until i get my vision back and griseldon or some other drug like
that/ it'll kill me if i don't take it/ i'm a bit groggy in the head/
i was going ter have a nice feed of steak/ but i switched off the
frying pan and lay down) |
