From Alive in Dubbo
Boys getting stoned and jumping off the cliff
into the deepest part of the river;
no one knows for sure how deep.
See you in Cobar! we shouted, as we drifted away
downstream.
Flocks of cockatoos screeched as they flew over the
slopes,
the dirt road and metal posts,
fallen logs and blue-green algae,
dead ryegrass undulating.
I nearly drowned fighting the current as I tried to
cross back,
tussled in the willows, vines and throwing up.
Blistered and scarred for seven days.
Devil means Bunyip and Evil Spirit Dreaming.
The elders frightened the children with ghost stories
to save them from drowning near the bend in the
river.
It’s a strange bed up north, said Gazza.
Jason and Craig saw a kingfisher on the fence,
You can tell them by their pointed beaks.
I spotted a pelican on the water’s surface,
It must be lost.
