Best Australia Poems
Down under continent
Down low is Australia
Australia the big island
Australia sixth largest continent
Country whose desert known as outback
Country who has the largest reef
Reef called the Great Barrier
Reef found off northeastern coast
Coast 35,877 kilometer of shoreline
Coast provides fun in the sun
Sun beats down on the desert
Sun is brightest in our winter
Winter offers some snow
Winter's are mild
Mild hop, hop of Kangaroos
Mild climbing of Koala
Koala live high in trees
Koala eat eucalypt leaves
Leaves favored blue, mansa, and swamp gum
Leaves are Koala's daily diet
Diet of Australian influenced by world
Diet consist of variety of foods
Food introduced from Ireland, Europe
Food from Italy, Greece and Asian new spices
Spices used in stir fry
Spices changed meat's taste
Taste of foods like rice, oranges, bananas
Taste of foods from all over the world
World influences shaped continent
World and Britian settled
Settled by Aborigines
Settled also by Britian
Britain sent convicts
Britian sent soldiers to New South Wales
Wales brassy, bold, stately and old
Wales sandy beaches, Jenolan Caves
Caves above ground
Caves in sea waters for adventure
Adventures in Abercrombie cave
Adventures in Tasmania
Tasmania mecca for adventure
Tasmania's mountainous terrain
Terrain for wild river raft
Terrain of sheer cliffs to climb
Climb the Great Dividing Range
Climb to new heights down under
Under sunny skies
Under skies so blue
Blue
Skies
Written: August 14, 2015
Influenced by Debbie Guzzie's contest..
First Blitz..Whoa!!
On an outback plain where big Roos were few
A gang went riding their Harley’s
Their plan was to stop at the pub for a brew
So they headed at top speed for Charley’s
It wasn’t too long as they sped along
that a Big Red hopped out of nowhere
that was the moment that things went wrong
and started this sorry affair
After the first Harley hit the Roo
they ended up in a spinning heap - until
someone had a silly notion of what to do
I’m certain they meant no ill will.
They decided - for a novel photo op
They would dress the dead roo in leather.
They propped him up beside a large rock
In a biker’s jacket and helmet
Laughing and joking and dressing and poking
They stood beside him to pose.
When all of a sudden and I am not joking
The dead carcass took off with the clothes.
The tragedy was the jacket was new
and the bloody thing was expensive
But it gets a great laugh when he’s having a brew
Still, it took a long time to make sense of.
A halo round the fading moon
Sweet mist upon the grass.
The croak of frogs from yon lagoon,
A flight of ducks wing past.
A dingo howls farewell to night,
The crimson sunrise comes;
The dawn is here to start the day,
Al hail the rising sun.
That blazing orb now bakes the plains,
Heat shimmers on the ground.
The gum trees droop their leaves in pain,
The paddocks all are brown.
From long grass on the flat below
Rise heads of kangaroo;
Of rain. no sign, of clouds, no show,
Just endless skies of blue.
But now, the evening cool arrives,
The distant hills turn red.
The sun's rays flash like crimson knives
And darkness' blanket spreads.
Cicadas strike their evening chords,
And kookaburras laugh;
On sunset's purple cloak abroad,
The moon spreads silver paths.
If Australia was a poem
It would be written in galloping Iambic
Full of characters leaning toward the laconic
Every line a simile, every name a diminutive
If Australia was a poem
It would be a sun drenched beach
A perpetual holiday of non-stop mate-ship,
good-natured joke telling and weekend BBQ’s
If Australia was a poem
It’s lines would start out leafy, ending in spinnifex,
head out of the big smoke to beyond the Black Stump
No matter what happened in between-
“She’d be right mate.
If Australia was a poem
It would be flowing like the landscape
It would speak to you of far away,
of scented , sun warmed winds and
distant shades of green and grey.
If Australia was a poem
I’d keep it close to heart
It’s familiar lines of birdsong and patriotic verse,
mingling in memory this land-my home.
catastrophic year
australia is on fire
koalas dying
apocalyptic
more than one hundred degrees
affecting ocean
year of the fires
devastating marine life
australia crying
debilitating
four hundred eighty million
animals have died
catastrophic year
australia is on fire
koalas dying
Well the house was rock & rolling,
and the dance floor was pulsating,
I had myself too many drinks,
then drank two or three more.
All the ladies, they were moving,
in tight clothes so scintillating,
one looked so hot I couldn’t think
as we walked out the door…
Then I woke up in Australia,
and I don’t know how I got here,
and it’s really kind of funny,
went to sleep in Santa Fe.
And I woke up in Australia,
and I don’t know what I’m doing,
but the folks are nice
and there’s beer on ice,
so what the hell, I’ll stay, mate!
Where the girl went, I do not know,
nor even where we did go
when we left that raging party,
probably to an airport.
Vaguely recall lights turned down low,
did I get with her? I hope so!
Joining the mile high club is
a real fine way to score…
Then I woke up in Australia,
and I don’t know how I got here,
and it’s really kind of funny,
I blacked out in Sante Fe.
And I woke up in Australia,
and I don’t know what to do next,
but the weather’s nice,
and they do shrimp right,
so what the hell, I’ll stay, hey!
The ladies here are so sweet,
and the men all like grilling beef,
the animals want to kill me,
guess you can’t have everything.
Do you know they have ski hills?
And vineyards to drink your fill,
Plus kangaroo is so tasty you
don’t know what your missing!
Yes, I woke up in Australia,
and I don’t know how I got here,
and I wonder when they’ll find me,
send me back to Santa Fe.
Yes, I woke up in Australia,
all because of some strange Sheila,
but I’m doing fine
under southern skies,
so what the hell, I’ll stay, G’day!
I could see the faces - the faces of despair,
looking on in disbelief. Standing where
once it was their home, and now an empty shell
where they stood face to face with that infernal hell.
Now there’s nothing left but heart break and the tears.
Everything has turned to ashes gathered o’er the years,
but searching lives with hope and a smile comes through,
when a blistered album’s found with a photograph or two.
Below the smoky moon or the sun a ball of fiery red.
Where the wind enraged the storm to shower sparks ahead,
I feel a tinge of concern and worry ‘bout my turn -
when you burn Australia burn.
Do you turn and run - do you stay and fight,
in a hope that some way that you might
create a revelation if you stay ‘til the last -
You can re-build a home but you can’t replace the past.
I could see the faces - the faces of despair,
looking on in disbelief when standing where,
in the middle of their dreams knowing that they’ve gone -
and knowing that they all must carry on.
Below the smoky moon or the sun a ball of fiery red.
Where the wind enraged the storm to shower sparks ahead,
I feel a tinge of concern and worry ‘bout my turn -
when you burn Australia burn.
Houses built with love and thought gone in seconds. Poof!
Koalas who have lived in a territory for generations running
to gulp air
to find water
but alas many die any way
Trees gone. Grass blackened. Earth crying. Australia disappearing.
Hopelessness felt around the world, as we watch the inferno
Taking lives
Taking homes
Taking safety and freedom
Kangaroos and koalas falling by the thousands never to get up
Destruction devouring Australia
Destruction of houses
Destruction of millions of animals
Devastating destruction
Everything disappearing in an apocalyptic inferno.
Climate change nightmare
Climate change reality
Pray for Australia
Great country rich, land of my birth, that cradled my childhood and taught me of
Worth.'
Land of struggles, and dreamtime lore.'
A country of invention, and of weathers raw.'
Do we have an easy history.? I must answer no.' I owe us; that much at the
least.'
In my mix of emotions, i shall try to so'
Well, to put a relief of our history in this
I'll tell.'
Of a crowns avairice, of some humans in
Chains, others free agents who came to
Make gain'
They came to Australia..with expectations
And dreams, some of great horror' they did
Create scenes.'
Then there were the existing, the Aboriginal
Mobs, living for millenia with their corroberee councils..
Hunters and trackers, survivalists and they paid their costs, leaving newborn infants, in
The open to die.' If the extra life would be too much? This was a part of their bush lives; to oft..
Then there were the guvenors, and officers of the crown, instructed to tame the country.'
With their own views.' As they built the settlements, and kept their convicts
Down.'
There were lashings and hangings, And genocide too.' All tasmanian Native
Peoples wiped out..Its quite true.'the decades advanced..
( The boomerang factor )
From the past collision of cultures, a new country was emerging..Herb Elliot was to become a champion, Lionel Rose Evonne Goolagong,
Shane Gould..We were really flying.'
In the 1960s and 1970s there was an atmosphere of change and hope.' A wish
To be more unified, and a regret.' I tell
No jokes.. I ask all Aussies can we
Go back.? And fix the wrongs we did not
Do.'
Or do we move forward on Australia day.'
And all the days that follow too.? Can we
Be free of trauma.? Yet refer to lessons past.? I advise resume in the ' true blue spirit ' and give the world a blast.' Avoid the
Forigen influencers who want to rake dead
Coals..' Only to enslave us all..!!! Now
get up' be your best; be really bold.!!!
G'day eclectic nation..From citys to outback stations, in the canefields and wheatbelts
Where the heat hugs , yet sweat cools you if
You move right.?
And you follow bush rules, in that searing light
To those dunking their akubra.' To Yalata where
They fixed my metal.. To those up on
The ridges and on bar stools settled, to the marchers who are moving, and the loosers
Who are ( booing ') who are realising the freedom, that so many sacrificed for and
Believed in ' I wish to you enlightennent ' and
To those displaced by designs not of benign intent, currently toughing it under
The shelter of tents.' I wish you strength
And health.' And a return to a better commonwealth.' Not one of crown and pomp and heraldry, yet one of mateship
For each man and woman who be, the holders of continuity..The rememberers
Of the best we can be..I am marching with
You all in spirit..And beleive no sky will limit, share a smile and hugs, pull up a rug.'
Australia day ( is here to stay ) God bless and guide all love i say.'
I am the bushland dawning
in the stillness of the morning
I am the sunlit plains
and the mighty river's flow
I'm the drought and I'm the flood
I'm the earth and I'm the blood
I'm the breezes ever blowing
where the wild pandanas grow
I'm the stockman and the drover
and I've walked this land all over
and I share forgotten secrets
that the wild ones only know
I'm the dust of outback trails
I'm the wind that fills the sails
I'm the city and the country
and the first high mountain snow
I'm the Murray River flowing
and the cattle softly lowing
I'm the kangaroo and emu
and the sunset's orange glow
I'm the Southern Cross at night
the explorer's guiding light
I'm the place that tells the traveller
that it's better to go slow
I am Banjo and I'm Lawson
I am Kelly and I'm Mawson
I am the Melbourne Cup
and the Sydney Easter Show
I am wild and still untamed
and there's beauty in my name
I am the land Australia
where the lucky people go.
From my PDF book "Bush Ballads and Bulldust"
free-roaming feral
Australian mob of brumbies-
Snowy River man
By Robert (Bob) Moore (©2015)
The gun shearer has gone now, like many other things
the shearing sheds are empty, and wools no longer king
gone now like the drover, and the brumbie on the plains
but we still have the scorched brown earth, and droughts and soaking rains
The aussie language has almost gone , the things we used to say
fair dinkum sport, and ridgie didge, and hello was “G’day”
no “its your shout” “snakes in your pocket” “he’s a bonza bloke”
“Bloody oath” and “Dinky Di” and “can’t you take a joke”
no footy shorts and tshirt, an Akubra hat was neat
now its baseball caps and hoodies, and Nikies on your feet
you don’t drive a Holden car, you drive a Nissan tank
the aussie way of life is gone, you can take that to the bank
once you could walk along the street, anytime without a care
bread and milk delivered to your door, the money you’d leave there
upon the step, with empty bottles, people just walked bye
no way that you could not do that now, and you wouldn’t even try
no bangers on the barbie, with a great big piece of steak
Hoges even calls a prawn a shrimp, the Americans to placate
used to say “a barbie out the back”, but now its “al fresco”
with emu, ostrich, and crocodile, and some you may not want to know
now everything is different, but did it all go wrong
can we say that it’s just progress, and we are where we belong
multicultural, many Nations, trying to live as one
no manufacturing anymore, all of that has gone
Is it still a Western Culture here, an Anglo-celtic race
or has it changed, to something else, at a slow, unnoticed pace
there’s Catholics, Buddhists. Muslims, there’s Anglicans and Jews
in every tier of government, and controlling all the news.
So we only know what we are told, and pretend that we don’t see
what’s happening to this Country, ‘cause that’s just not PC
so soon the Lucky Country, may not be lucky anymore
and we’ll find the life which we once knew, has walked right out the door
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
“We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands on which we work and pay our respects to Indigenous Elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty has never been ceded. It always was and always will be, Aboriginal land.
We recognise the past atrocities against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of this land and that Australia was founded on the genocide and dispossession of First Nations people. We acknowledge that colonial structures and policies remain in place today and recognise the ongoing struggles of First Nations people in dismantling those structures. The struggle to seek justice, to remember and address this nation’s past is ongoing and is a necessary requirement for individual and collective healing process.
We support the Uluru Statement from the Heart to achieve justice, recognition and respect for First Nations people and a referendum to enshrine a First Nations Voice in the Constitution. We accept the invitation contained in the Statement to walk together with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.”
“A Darker Shade of Light”
(First Nation Australia from mind of whitefella)
My people
see your people
simple ignorant
crazy greedy
black cockatoo
laughing eyes
smiling angry
all seeing
spit signature
fingers spread
on hands pointing
bones at my people
ochre powder
yellow cake
red earth bleeding
white fella
yellow belly snake
blowing out
the fires of our
stolen children
torn from our
mob, not yours
swallowed
by your
gadaidja fangs
sinking into the skin
of our land
poison
all around
greedy gubbah
when will you
understand
our nation
not your flag
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
Great White Sharks are a Gold Coast wonder
Though crocodiles may steal their thunder
But all surfers know
It is time to go
When kangaroos line up Down Under