November verse 12, 2024

As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent the weekend at the Rising Tide People’s Blockade of the Newcastle coal port.

Then, I ducked the daunting task of writing a stanza beginning with ‘Water lapping on their doorsteps’, a line taken from Senator Mehreen Faruqi’s description of the drastic situation of Pacific Island nations. But the challenge refused to lie down and die, so here goes. It might be worth reminding you that Imhotep was a kind of deity of ancient Egypt who may have been believed to help control the flooding of the Nile; and that the Golden Soul is a ship that left Newcastle on the weekend bound for Japan with a load of coal. You probably don’t know that Mary McKillop, now a canonised saint, once placed a statue of Saint Joseph on the doorstep of her nuns’ residence, and floodwaters stopped just short of the statue.

Verse 12: Water lapping on their doorsteps

Water lapping on their doorsteps,
not a miracle in sight.
No hope will come from Nile's Imhotep, 
none from praying day and night
to effigies of saints and fairies,
Hare Krishnas or Hail Marys,
even chanting 'No more coal'.
Great ships like the Golden Soul
still sail, indifferent as weather.
Science says we know what to do,
but who's in charge? Yes, you know who!
Still, let's paddle hell for leather,
do wise things and crazy stunts,   
everything, everywhere all at once.

With any luck I’ll be back to domesticity tomorrow. Maybe something about our new EV?