Long Bulldust Poems

BUSHFIRE
                                  ...

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On a squatter’s small selection
Not far east of Northam town
Waits a wife and her two children
For her husband to come down

For he’s gone off chasing nuggets
In a far off northern field
And he’s gone to seek...

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“The Lost Daughter”



Thursday walked through the doors on a Tuesday
She sat in the Waiting Room, 
the place smelled too sterile, 
Antiseptic wash, 
rank clean with soaps of fine lyes 
no rugs to sweep bulldust under
such...

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Hooks and lures and fishing line, an eight foot throwing net
The sea is calm, the weather fine, there’s challenge to be met
Bait fish schools along the rocks dart frantically away
mesh descends on heavy weights to...

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The yards behind the shearing shed are overgrown with grass
And the fence posts look a little worse for wear
There’s cobwebs on the tractors that are sitting all forlorn
And a farm cat snoozes gently on a...

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In the city, season's changes only barely leave their mark
for the city's far from nature with it's neon in the dark
The rush and ceaseless hustle leave no time for rain or drought
and no one has...

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At a point where the old road meets the hill
and runs down the other side
There's an old tin shed that's standing, still
and a grave where the old dog died

He surely had seen better days
when our...

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My heart has been torn..My mind assulted; Yet the dust it
Is settling, red dirt; black earth; almost grey bulldust.' I am
In my dreaming.' Deep yet alert.' I'm singing in tune, to the
Creak of existence's ancient...

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'Thar she blows!' the cry goes up
a breaching whale is seen
The longboat's manned and low'red
the lookout's eyes were keen

The hunt begins, the whalers chant
the oarsmen strain and pull
The whaling ship won't turn for port
'til her...

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The old bush pub has seen some times
I'll wager things were good
When all it was, was sheets of tin
and rough cut planks of wood

When cattlemen tied up their steeds
to posts along the street
and spurs adorned...

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Not once have I lied, not once have I stolen
Not once have I made a mistake in my life
Not once was I bribed, not once been beholden
Not once have I cheated on my faithful wife

Not...

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Have you ever felt the magic
when you're standing by the sea?
The rise and fall of ocean swells
Sublime serenity

In the morning's salty air
the working boats leave port
and anglers keen on fishy fare
go looking for some sport

The...

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All the Anzacs have faded back into the past
And the old men now rest with their mates
We can hope they play 2 up and still have a beer
Now they’ve entered the heavenly gates

We have cause...

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I lie dead and broken and crushed by the road
and the crows make a meal of my eyes
I no longer wander the trails in the bush
there's no one who mourns me or cries

And all who...

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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...

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I fell in love with a lady
who's as firm as she's soft as she's strong
There's times when she's quite a hard mistress
but with body and soul I belong

She grants me my hopes and desires
She answers...

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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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I wander down the empty street 
where shop doors now are closed
The empty windows once were stacked
with products all in rows

The general store's a hollow shell
the roof is rusting tin
but once the children stood outside
and...

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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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When everything seems peaceful
and all is going well
you'll find out that Murphy's rules
will grab you like a spell

When you build your money up
a bundle in the bank
and trouble strikes at every turn
then you'll know who...

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Do you remember when a workman
Used to ply his trade with care?
Do you remember when good service
Counted more than selling shares?

Do you remember back when products 
Would all stand the test of time?
Back when pre-planned...

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Somewhere east of nowhere
stands a rust encrusted shed
In a paddock full of weeds
by a tumbledown homestead

A windmill goes on turning
though the bore has long run dry
and the fence posts are still standing
where the bones of...

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Can you hear her heart beating
in the heat of the day
when the white gums stand silent
and as time slips away?

Can you feel her pulse quicken
in the crisp morning air
with the sun not yet risen
over hills...

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I look down
Upon its frosty glass
And wait
For the internals 
To settle

Should I
Move northward
Into the heat
And bulldust
Humid air
And all that is
Unfair
Among
The green and black

Do I go west
Beyond the setting sun
To beaches and tracks
To walk
Before
All is said...

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