And the poetry floating in the basement!!!
P
-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of andrew burke
Sent: 24 March 2010 08:30
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: snap: storm
Well, I think the books are often in the upper decks, with serials and
files of art and architectural historical documents in the lower
floors. But it has been decades since I was there, so I could stand
corrected. Andrew
On 24 March 2010 14:12, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> very vivid, Andrew.
> Library damage painful especially to hear about.
> How are the books?
>
> Max
>
> Quoting andrew burke <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>> STORM
>>
>> Heaviest downpour in fifty years
>> floods the dry gutters, brittle leaves
>> block the down pipes
>> and rain backs up to flow down
>> inside glass of sliding doors
>> and kitchen windows. Once, only
>> the wealthiest of homeowners
>> had water sculptures
>> like these – my humour
>> proves water soluble
>> as towels prove no levee
>> and we walk barefoot
>> as beachcombers, room to
>> room, turning off
>> fridge, fans, computers, TV,
>> lamps, safety switched now
>> from light to dark. We’re lucky.
>> The coastline was hit worst,
>> universities and hospitals
>> pitted and torn, traffic beached
>> on its own islands, libraries
>> swimming in mud
>> and waist-high waters.
>>
>> *
>>
>> _the morning after …_
>>
>>
>> Excited news on social networks
>> of vehicles pitted like golfballs,
>> mudslides into luxury city apartments,
>> Premier declaring the storm
>> a Natural Disaster – keeping his shoes
>> clean by walking the driest paths –
>> TV news reporting the reportage
>> of Facebook users, folded in
>> narrative PoMo style,
>> furry footage and hysterical audio.
>>
>> Not so much excitement in this town
>> since last footy finals. Men climbing
>> walls onto rooftops, sealing skylights,
>> ants at their nest; schools mopping up,
>> preparing doorstop lessons on
>> Climate Change and Nature’s Fury.
>>
>> *
>>
>> The Bassendean Shopping Centre –
>> Proudly Hawaiian – copped
>> a bucketing. Coles Supermarket
>> ceiling fell in; the Vietnamese
>> fruit and veg shop, Australia Post
>> and The Centre Café all
>> flooded to kneehigh level.
>> Yellow jacketed workmen swarm
>> the roof, wasps at their nest,
>> and the Indian trolley man compares
>> disaster stories with the woman
>> with a fag in her mouth
>> and a mixed exhibition of tats
>> on every exposed surface.
>> ‘Fuckin hell, what’d you do then?!’
>> Magic Happens yesterday
>> replaced by Shit Happens
>> today. That’s the way it is.
>>
>> Spare a thought for those who
>> sleep in doorways and under bridges
>> as State Emergency volunteers race by
>> to plug up damaged domiciles
>> and insurance assessors take snaps
>> and key in their findings.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Andrew
>> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
>> http://frankshome.org/AndrewBurke.html
>>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
http://frankshome.org/AndrewBurke.html
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