Like a moth to the flame, that alien world of drought and indifference, where days are so bleached by light, the land is screen-burnt in my eyes when I close them.
An abrasive scrubland of dry winds and UV radiation. A tinderbox of accelerants where even gum trees, birthed by fire, shy their leaves from midday's sun.
Out there the Eastern Brown and the red-striped snake and spider bite; Out there meat ants smell a pungent eucalypt underfoot but can strip a carcass to the bone; Out there swarms of flies buzz the shade and cicadas sound like sirens.
The summer of 2019-20 was another trifecta of drought, heat and fire. The dam was empty and smoke from fires filled the air. The entire world was orange, brown and red with vast swathes of autumn coloured leaves from trees that were dead.
Summer in the badlands, because out there is peace. Peace in the isolation of a place people do not go. A place people do not go.
TAGS
Photo, Collage, Australia, Antipodes, Worlds
MUSIC
Picnic at hanging rock, Movie theme song 1975
POEMS
My country poem, D.Mackellar 1908 (Video recital) and (Text version)
"Out on the wastes of the Never Never - That's where the dead men lie!", Where the Dead Men Lie, poem by Barcroft Boake 1891
MOVIES
Picnic at hanging rock movie scene of Edith screaming
Chronicles of Riddick movie scene where Purifier walks out to Crematoria
LINKS
The Never Never - Australian outback (Wikipedia)