If I thought poetry changed anything I'd sent this to the Australian
government - but it doesn't.
Mick
Nauru
A tiny speck of land
in the vast pacific ocean
no industry
no agriculture
it could be paradise
but it's not
there used to be phosphates
until the multinationals came
and left
taking the top four feet of everywhere
with them
leaving a bizarre landscape
of rocks stripped naked
like embarrassed outcasts
on a prison island
pacific rain storms
washed away
what soil was left
and now the place is just a maze
of twisting empty trenches
inhabitants who haven't
already left
are queuing up to do so
their villages
and ages old island culture
long destroyed
a perfect place to send
three hundred and fifty
men women and children
trying to escape
persecution
and intolerance
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