Long Billabong Poems

I was out of work in thirty-three and forced to take the road,
not really looking forward toward the tramping swaggy code,
and as luck had it, just by chance, I no longer had to hike,
‘cause parked...

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There’s an old river course with beginning and end,
now the river runs straight without this river bend,
where the water is still and the reeds do grow strong.
New life has taken over in a billabong.

The mat...

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A transparent parrot makes a very big noise when seed arrives to visit. Mr and Mrs seed have fifteen children, eleven thousand grandchildren and one great grandchild. It is interesting to note bar levels for...

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I was born at great heights,
For the peak of morning rays and the glacial snowy nights ,
I never listen to my parents nor their way,
And when my mother holds me I escape and melt away,
At...

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They were gathered round the billabong
to try to work things out
but all that was being emitted was
a right Caxton of sounds

All were jabber, jabber
and some pushing going on
jostling each other for space
none wanting to be...

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"Black Cockatoo"



I was white
as pure snow cotton
thread through the eye of God's needle

Black 
he was, 
not Egyptian, more ancient 

he walked 
in the Dreamtime 
with the forgotten people

obsidian 

We swam the 
well known swan song
like...

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It’s been a long day beneath hot sun,
with sunset looming and daylight done,
came across water with a stand of trees,
deep in shadow with a zephyr breeze;
a perfect place to camp for the night, 
joined by...

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I've got my earphones on
My hoodie says billabong
Writing lyrics about her while playing my favorite song
All the right moves like
Mahjong.
I'm weird so if she's the girl I'm King Kong
Okay okay that sounds so wrong.
Love is...

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Numb to sun's torture, scathed terrain
      Syphons cynic's air, ribs poised 
      Statuesque breath stoic barren refrain
      Skeletal inertia, rhythm...

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in traffic there is an accidie and weariness
and flatness and humdrum of the road
but leonard cohen helps with that
and i think about the poor north koreans
without their fix of coca cola
and the mental health of...

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Waltzing Shearer

Out near Dagworth Station during 1894
Where the Waltzing Matilda, Swagman drowned,
Cos he liked them lamb chops nicely browned,
He was only eating the Masters sheep, scoffing em down,
Disgusting said Squatters and frowned, some more,
In 1894,...

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"The Padded Soft Cell" 

Here they cover their mirrors
with garlands of poésies
to stop billabong reflections 
pooling through

the inmates 
congratulate each other
walking in slow dervish circles
Boston-two-stepping backwards ecstatic rituals

Anti-clockwise, 
I told them to change channels
when words...

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The bright lights of the city
Have lured me away
From bushland plains and mulga scrub
from plains of rich red clay

Away from the serenity
to noise and toil and strife
To pay the bills and cure the ills
of living...

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Cattle trucks drive highways now
where drovers once held sway
Heavy rigs of chrome and steel
replaced the horse and dray

Gravel tracks of rich red earth
that rambled near and far
Have disappeared forever
‘neath miles of hot black tar

The billabong...

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The  Australian  Swagman 
                             ...

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Destinations, unconventional beings futuristic designs, some may deem them gods in the making......

Perfect in all forms, being the impendiment perfection is non existent .
Blink twice , bite your tongue realise the water drops dropping after...

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As the sun rises over the Billabong
Life began to flow in the dawn of the morning
Crocodiles snaps at its morning food
Large fish swim for their lives
Mosquitoes are in the millions
Swarming all in your face
Camp fires...

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The trail was thick with bities and the billabong was high
me mates were all a yabbering 'bout the price of meat
The cavvy horses trotted right on course, nothing seemed awry
the jiger boss yelled "Buckeroos! git...

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Once upon a time
On a billabong
a frog croaked out his billabong song

It was harmony of nature
The stars looked on
And all was peaceful - nothing was wrong 

At the height of the full moon 
A fiddler...

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Yes, we do share our dreams,
of course we leave out the inadmissible, 
the dark alcoves and the flying monkeys.

At breakfast I scratch in a notebook, 
doodle questions like
why I feel a duck-billed platypus 
is still...

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If the river wends its way on a path so very long,
and it can't make up its mind, just meandering along,
then a monsoon from the west blows the rains in hard and strong,
and the water's...

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"I dreamt, I was a butterfly or was I, 
  a butterfly dreaming . . ."
But I was only the cocoon grub,
 attached to a ceiling,
So I hung there thoughts of enrapturing,
 fascinating, the...

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Bunyip

Old Bunyip lurked in the billabong
He had a calf like face
Had the body of a seal 
strong magic in this place

Native fishermen caught small Bunyip
One thought to carry it home
Dream time legend says 
Mother came...

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At breakfast I scribble in a notebook
questions like:
why do I feel like a duck-billed platypus
has been nibbling at my brain all night?
The I remember
the billabong, the kookaburra
and the ‘jolly swagman’
all of whom
party-crashed my REM-sleep.

I ask:...

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