Please read this powerful poem from Frank Prem. We may all be refugees soon:
the thought I had
was a refugee
I’ve had these thoughts
before
once in a boat
upon the waters
wide
sometimes
as a thought
in the sky
but lately
I’ve been watching flame
licking at the leaves
on the trees
bringing darkness
when the sun
should shine
and I see photographs
in my newspapers
I see pictures
on the TV screen
of mamas
holding it together
the best way
that they can
of papas
crying
like the world’s gone
mad
and I count
the creatures
that aren’t where
they should be
and my thought
is just a prisoner
to the knowledge
that the world has changed
there’s no koala
there
there’s no blue-tongue
no wombat and
no kangaroo
I can’t see
a magpie
the kookaburra
isn’t laughing
no brown snake
or tiger
where is
the fairy wren
the wood ducks I remember
as a score
are there any left
I…
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Hi Kim.
Thank you for sharing this poem. It is the piece – the idea and thought – that started me on this current writing endeavour focused on the fires here in Australia and their impact on myself and other folk like me.
This country has spent more than a decade focused determinedly on letting refugees from other countries arrive in Australia on rickety boats, crossing dangerous seas.
We have become a poster-child for border protectionism.
Now, today, we have Australians fleeing their homes with nothing more than what they are standing up in. There are whole regions that will likely prove uninhabitable or uninsurable or just plain unavailable . Not to mention the utter destruction of the land and its future that will remain in the aftermath.
I find it bitterly a ironical outcome.
We are become a nation of refugees within its own borders, and in the end, we reap what we sow.
Thank you, again for sharing this.
If any of your readers wishes to donate to the recovery, the place I am directing traffic to is here: https://www.vic.gov.au/bushfireappeal
I am hoping to create a small personal reward in the form of some audio poetry for anyone donating, so if they get in touch with a receipt reference, I’ll include them when I am ready to go.
Sorry for taking over the post like this.
Thank you, again,
Frank
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Yes, the irony was not lost on me, which is one of the reasons I re-blogged your poem. Also, we are all in danger of becoming climate refugees in the next decade.
No worries about taking over the post. :)
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Thanks Kim. It’s easy to find myself ranting without meaning to.
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I know the feeling…..
BTW, should the sentence below have a negative in it. It appears to contradict the sentence after it? Or am I being thick this mornng?
“This country has spent more than a decade focused determinedly on letting refugees from other countries arrive in Australia on rickety boats, crossing dangerous seas.”
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This may be better (thank you):
“This country has spent more than a decade determinedly refusing to allow refugees crossing dangerous seas in rickety boats to land in Australia.”
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:)
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Thanks for sharing Frank’s lovely poem. Now following you both!
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Thank you Clive!
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Indeed – climate change refugees…. afraid this will be a world wide problem all too soon. 😞
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So am I.
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