to the horizon line
a smothering layer of cold political rhetoric
the motionless words palpitating gently into the cracks of stoneware earth

hurting was the season here in the bush
and winter was some additive that came with it,
the storm shutters were up—
every second store closed or having a closing-down sale

the hunger pains of the city ended here
the spirits were being sucked away into this gas pipeline
as the beast just keeps taking . . . taking . . . taking

black and white struggled to reconcile
slashing their own bloodlines when packing the kids off to the      Big Smoke
where all the opportunities now manifested

a rainbow serpent dormant on cryogenic dreams
chilling over into the landscape
while a secret war was being fueled on urban innuendo
as a country town loses another generation of its young
to the lust of the city

a main street void
of the laughter
of its children . . .