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the skin of Australia

ISNISN Posts: 1,700
edited August 2005 in Poetry, Prose, Music & Art
freight trains trundle through town
with aboriginal graffiti on them
and harmless signs of other places
distant ages and desert dust
containers are huge and
covered in rust
I like to watch the freight trains
chugging
lugging
ore or
other stuff
to places
I have never been
through lands as old as time
herself
and through the sparkling dry
the big red
on tracks
that are embedded into the
skin of Australia
like steel tatoos
everytime I see
a freight train
my heart leaps up
and I know that
I will always be safe
in Australia
....they're asking me to prove why I should be allowed to stay with my baby in Australia, because I'm mentally ill......and they think I should leave......
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    This is serious poetry, ISN. That's one to enter into a national competition or try to get published!
  • ISNISN Posts: 1,700
    nah, it's just for fun Fins.....I've copied it to read to the immigration panel when I get dual-citizenship......but apart from that......it's jus for fun......(ps....I know there's a wordsworth reference in there.....I jus thought it was so incongruous for my heart to leap up seeing a freight train, not a rainbow.....but it's God's honest truth - I love the fukkers!!! they're so solid!!!!!)
    ....they're asking me to prove why I should be allowed to stay with my baby in Australia, because I'm mentally ill......and they think I should leave......
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    It's good fun! ;)
  • pacifierpacifier Posts: 1,009
    FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:
    This is serious poetry, ISN. That's one to enter into a national competition or try to get published!

    your right. I think it would definately do well in an australian competition. It felt very australian to me. Made me love my country all over again. so many places I'll never see. but the potential is there and that's what i love.
  • pacifierpacifier Posts: 1,009
    ISN wrote:
    nah, it's just for fun Fins.....I've copied it to read to the immigration panel when I get dual-citizenship......but apart from that......it's jus for fun......(ps....I know there's a wordsworth reference in there.....I jus thought it was so incongruous for my heart to leap up seeing a freight train, not a rainbow.....but it's God's honest truth - I love the fukkers!!! they're so solid!!!!!)

    dual-citizenship? how long have you lived here for?
  • ISNISN Posts: 1,700
    four years.....am getting residency right now.....I'm Irish (btw....I'm glad you liked the poem.....trains are such a big part of my experience here.....they make me wonder about this big land that I have yet to explore.....I've only been as far as Byron Bay, and never outside NSW)
    ....they're asking me to prove why I should be allowed to stay with my baby in Australia, because I'm mentally ill......and they think I should leave......
  • pacifierpacifier Posts: 1,009
    ISN wrote:
    four years.....am getting residency right now.....I'm Irish

    irish! cool. I love the accent. I think my great grandfather or actually probably his father was irish
  • ISNISN Posts: 1,700
    I know, generally, we're pretty cool dudes, but I've got an American accent with a bit of Irish, cos I went to an American school in Malaysia.....when I was a little nipper.....hehehehehe.....it all adds to the mix I say......
    ....they're asking me to prove why I should be allowed to stay with my baby in Australia, because I'm mentally ill......and they think I should leave......
  • ISNISN Posts: 1,700
    big train going through austin
    do you remember my name
    I was psychotic.....
    but you were the big train
    on tracks with no fences
    (sue dropped me off in the car
    I'd been there bout
    four days so far)
    I went up to town
    from the green belt zone
    to get stuff to eat
    alone with my demons
    and heavy on my feet
    and I walked up the hill
    from the lake
    up the road
    I was so paranoid
    I was so crazy
    the train really scared me
    (sue let me stay ten days
    due to her lease -
    after I got out of the free clinic
    I had no insurance)
    God you're my endurance
    I went to the hostel on the lake
    and met the girl from scotland
    we went through three men
    in three days
    but I didn't have to cross the tracks
    I was okay.....
    I would go back....
    one day.....
    ....they're asking me to prove why I should be allowed to stay with my baby in Australia, because I'm mentally ill......and they think I should leave......
  • pacifierpacifier Posts: 1,009
    ISN wrote:
    I know, generally, we're pretty cool dudes, but I've got an American accent with a bit of Irish, cos I went to an American school in Malaysia.....when I was a little nipper.....hehehehehe.....it all adds to the mix I say......

    irish/australian who attended and american/malaysian school. That really is quite a mix. nothing so exciting for me, just australian through and through with english/irish ancesters
  • pacifierpacifier Posts: 1,009
    ISN wrote:
    four years.....am getting residency right now.....I'm Irish (btw....I'm glad you liked the poem.....trains are such a big part of my experience here.....they make me wonder about this big land that I have yet to explore.....I've only been as far as Byron Bay, and never outside NSW)

    I'm sad to say I have not seen much of this great land either. I was born in QLD and moved around a few places there but by the time I was seven we had settled in the mid north coast of NSW. I stayed there until after highschool and have only been to Townsville QLD and Melbourne since then and have just recently moved to Perth. Besides that I have seen little. I guess though I saw a little bit at the end of last year when I went on a big holiday which involved travelling up the east coast from melbourne to cairns and included climbing the sydney harbour bridge (which I highly recommend by the way. it is a bit expensive but well worth it considering it is a once in a life time experience. Plus I am hoping to go on a road trip from perth to NSW travelling along the coast some time in the next year or so. but still it's not a lot considering how big australia is and how much it has to offer. plus I have never been outside of australia which i regret, but I've never had the money.
  • oldermanolderman Posts: 1,765
    excellent rail road poetry!

    as one who once rode the "magic carpets made of steel" i very much enjoyed the poems! thanks ISN for sharing!

    :)
    Down the street you can hear her scream youre a disgrace
    As she slams the door in his drunken face
    And now he stands outside
    And all the neighbours start to gossip and drool
    He cries oh, girl you must be mad,
    What happened to the sweet love you and me had?
    Against the door he leans and starts a scene,
    And his tears fall and burn the garden green
  • ISNISN Posts: 1,700
    why, thank you, olderman....:)
    ....they're asking me to prove why I should be allowed to stay with my baby in Australia, because I'm mentally ill......and they think I should leave......
  • Being EnlightenedBeing Enlightened Posts: 5,746
    Marvellous, ISN! :) You can feel yourself being there--very cool. :cool:

    These lines in particular really made me smile:

    "on tracks
    that are embedded into the
    skin of Australia
    like steel tatoos"

    Just excellent!
    Forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in. - Leonard Cohen
  • ISNISN Posts: 1,700
    bows (too short)
    ....they're asking me to prove why I should be allowed to stay with my baby in Australia, because I'm mentally ill......and they think I should leave......
  • dan_alivedan_alive Posts: 123
    ISN wrote:
    freight trains trundle through town
    with aboriginal graffiti on them
    and harmless signs of other places
    distant ages and desert dust
    containers are huge and
    covered in rust
    I like to watch the freight trains
    chugging
    lugging
    ore or
    other stuff
    to places
    I have never been
    through lands as old as time
    herself
    and through the sparkling dry
    the big red
    on tracks
    that are embedded into the
    skin of Australia
    like steel tatoos
    everytime I see
    a freight train
    my heart leaps up
    and I know that
    I will always be safe
    in Australia

    Awesome poem :) For some reason it reminds me of this movie i saw recently... best Aussie movie i've ever seen, it's in the cinemas soon... Look Both Ways... go see it if u can
    |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
    "It is I, with the empty bladder!"

    www.nowalletevolution.com
  • ISNISN Posts: 1,700
    wow!!! I'll try to check it out.....I feel humbled that my peom reminded you of a film......and I really appreciate all the positive comments you guys have made......which makes me think that a poem from the heart is more powerful than any cold clever combination of techniques
    ....they're asking me to prove why I should be allowed to stay with my baby in Australia, because I'm mentally ill......and they think I should leave......
  • NothingbetterNothingbetter Posts: 570
    A baron land with a train running through it....I can almost smell the Outback :)
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