Once in a thousand years
Montague Cole (University of Melbourne, Australia)
Northern Rivers, Bundjalung Nation
March 2022
mud stains
glut beat streets
the smack of split
sewerage dejected
fuel bowsers
leak rainbows
on a dead cow
whose carcass clogs
the gutter white
sedan on its back
like a saw-shelled turtle
swallowed at home
and washed to sea
volunteers sweat, mud
photo albums
wither cherished
possessions thrown
to the street
like scraps
for the wanton rats
we’ll wake
to glimmer of gums hoary
in the adoring sun
and waterbirds drawing
breath over brackish
water
laced with
run-off&round-up
until charcoal clouds
spit rapid fire
across the hinterland
and the heron’s
rasping croak
goes quiet
Montague Cole lives and writes on Minjungbal Country, Bundjalung Nation. He is undertaking a Masters of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing at the University of Melbourne, online. He grew up in Warrnambool.
