The Semi-Arid Country.(Poem)

 
THE SEMI-ARID COUNTRY 
 
   The blue ball of the sky 
   balances on the long broads, 
   flats where green and oatmeal 
   grow desperately. Creeks are 
   empty, and the long columns 
   floating from the pipes that swing 
   in arcs of droplets over paddocks 
   seem like mirages, it is so dry. 
 
   The land is semi-arid, and the folded 
   hills speak only of fortitude. 
   Distance is the song sung by 
   straight roads and wire fences 
   and the lengthy legs of emus 
   who know the long way home. 
   Here there is a salt lake, 
   mauve around the edges. 
 
   Tin towns where road trains rattle 
   spring out of the countryside. 
 ...