Tuesday 31 December 2019

Apocalyptic Poem for 2020


On the Beach at Mallacoota

Thousands take to the beach at Mallacoota to escape
The fires, and they huddle on the sand, while the skies
Turn black and red, embers, ashes, rape
And ravage the forests and the beasts: what lies
Before us are familiar images, the troops in Dunkirk
Cornered and concerned, the businessmen and women
Who fled the carnage of Twin Towers; no quirk
Of nature or arsonist’s fantasy, but the venom
Spewed forth from terrorist ideologies.
The ferries and the dinghies gathered across the bay
Where the firemen and ambulances in the trees
That dance like Roman candles and koalas lurk
And the kangaroos race exhausted to the end of the day,
And civilization lies smouldering in stench and murk.


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