The way back
Larder stocked
fuel and caffeine loaded
and muscles still reconfigured
by the journey down.
The journey home has begun
to deport illegal pets
and remove the last material connection to my roots.
Familiar acquaintances were renewed,
strengthened
then severed
before the reasons for leaving originally
manifest in confusion
and the derision of changes chosen to undergo.
Company enjoyed,
and welcomes intelligently left open
not outlived.
Radio stammers from song to static
as phone reception tracks our path
through an ever-widening fog
of invisible transmissions
which technology translates into information.
Flat bottomed lotus petaled clouds
overcrowd the ocean sky
as hot shafts of rare sunlight
pierce the depressing summer chill
and jab spotlights across the land
to highlight a tree, a hay bale
or some of the infinite empty space.
Exhortations to 'rest or perish’
lose their impact through repetition
to tempt weary drivers
into deserted truckie stops
where urban myths
lay uncreated
awaiting a fertile psychotic imagination.
Overdressed livestock
dine on grass dyed butterscotch
and tree foliage
nibbled to the extent of reach.
The habitat greens
in random manicured pockets
while the unproductive remainder
suffers the grand rhythmic cruelty
the short sighted and short lived,
humans assume to be unnecessary
and unordered.
Queen Flatula and her staple of starch
are found guilty
when the incriminating evidence of overindulgence
occasionally fills the car
with wafts of everyones favourite joke
and threatens laughter with mild nausea
and interpretation of flavour
adds to the disbelief
of the kept score.
Distance alters the environment
of barren outback and overgrown thought
to clear skies and clearer purpose.
Long miles of conversation free company
frames the value of a road trip
and rekindles your love of home.
(2004)
