IN BREWARRINA NOTHING IS SACRED
brewarrina has a hospital but no doctor/ there are
nurses in pink tunics/ pink is calming to the
patients as they lie waiting/ once a week the vet
from walgett comes across/ dad suggested that he
check out the patients at the hospital whilst he
is here/ a hospital nurse tells me: you come across
things that are found nowhere else in australia in
bre/ like what?/ like leprosy/ bre has a sports
centre but no sports equipment/ locals go down the
streets to the t.a.b./ & bet & bitch about the
weather & whether it will rain or not/ see it did
rain two days ago/ no it didn't/ locals go down the
street to the sunday 4 p.m. r.s.l. raffle/ jerry is
with us/ he yells out in the club: we wait for the
raffle & then we all piss orf/ he laughs when no one
else is laughing/ & says: i'm going for a shit now/
dad says: we're all used to 'im/
brewarrina has a
river but no safe swimming water/ the darling is
algae green from the pesticide rise/ dad sits in
rubbish on the steep sided bank fishing & waiting
to win lotto/ i took my dog binda down for a walk
over twisted dry tree roots/ & he got glass in his
pads twice/ i want to put on long plastic gloves
that reach up to my elbows & a doctor's mask/
so i can clean the place up/ but dad says: the
black fellas will only smash bottles against the
rocks next pension day/ in brewarrina i find out
that i have six koori cousins & that dad has
cousins/ i want to know who they are but no one
will tell me/ i find myself angry at the river's
death/ angry at the white cotton farmers & the
black glass smashers/ in brewarrina nothing is
sacred/
grog is passed around in the non alcohol
zone/ dad said: the police are scared of the
blacks/ the city media will accuse 'em of being
racist if they go near 'em/ he reminds me of the
time the a.b.c. bought them a thousand dollars
worth of grog/ he worked with other aboriginals at
bulgun place during the riot/ in bre there is black
& white/ groups of aboriginals in cars call out to
me from across the street: hey you hey you/ when i
ask them what they want they say: you're on our land
whitey fuck off/ so i drive my e.h. holden around
the block to the shops/ in brewarrina the poor white
europeans look at the new cars & houses & pensions
recieved by the poorer aboriginals & they grow to
hate them/
in brewarrina there is a huge rubbish tip
alongside the town & alongside the river/ & they seem
to combine in a way/ until pretty soon you can't tell
which is which/ i walk with kindi along the edge of
the river & i find a big turtle on its back/ bloated
neck & legs with nylon fishing line threaded through
its head/ dad said: the black fellas did that/
brewarrina has recently employed a white dog catcher
who lives with my father/ his nickname is 'fatty
t-bone'/ because he got caught stealing a bullock
from an owner who had stolen it from someone else/
fatty says: there are too many dogs & not enough
cages/ too many ticks & not enough dogs/ dad said:
if you're walkin' down the street the dog of
a white owner will rush out from a yard ter bite ya/
& when ya run onta the road you'll get run over
by a drunken blackfella/
when you are the dog catcher
you have to be careful whose dog you are picking up/
if you pick up the dogs of those working on the shire
you'll lose your job/ & when you go door to door to
talk about dog registration you need a police escort/
& if you're picking up the dodge city camp dogs you
need a semi automatic/ soon the 2 a.m. phone calls
& death threats start/ if you're the dog catcher in
brewarrina everybody knows who you are/ when dad
rings s.t.d. to sydney he says: fatty got bashed up
again last week in goodooga/ fatty tells me: that he
doesn't discriminate against whose dog he picks up/
black, white or brindle/ he says this as he is sitting
on my father's lounge polishing his sawn off shotgun/
pretty soon the pool attendant, the post master, the
butcher & a property owner have all lost their dogs/
& in the morning we check the yard for glass baits/
watch our dogs/ watch our backs |
