I am exhausted after a long journey from Darwin to Geraldton, via Alice Springs and Perth…. straight through the centre of this massive country.
I don't know how close to my old stomping ground in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands the plane flew. Certainly it was red desert down there below us, for at least some of the flight. Anyway for some reason I suddenly remembered these three poems, written when I lived in the desert, 15 years ago.
Mail plane
- - -
Flying low over Blackstone Ranges
Plane full of strangers
But they're not even there
It's just me in the air
I could float here for ages.
Pamela
- - -
In this dry desert land
Miles from any watery place
I once saw the ocean in your eyes
As your saltwater sprayed me
And I almost drowned in your tears
The real thing
(Ode to a windmill)
- - -
I saw it once
on a hill,
alone and still -
though it gave life to many.
And my tears blessed its rusty song
and my head spun
from the stark beauty of it all.
I don't know how close to my old stomping ground in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands the plane flew. Certainly it was red desert down there below us, for at least some of the flight. Anyway for some reason I suddenly remembered these three poems, written when I lived in the desert, 15 years ago.
Mail plane
- - -
Flying low over Blackstone Ranges
Plane full of strangers
But they're not even there
It's just me in the air
I could float here for ages.
Pamela
- - -
In this dry desert land
Miles from any watery place
I once saw the ocean in your eyes
As your saltwater sprayed me
And I almost drowned in your tears
The real thing
(Ode to a windmill)
- - -
I saw it once
on a hill,
alone and still -
though it gave life to many.
And my tears blessed its rusty song
and my head spun
from the stark beauty of it all.
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