# Six notes on a road trip Coral Carter

one tree
one hill
one sheep
bucolic vista of ones

road toll
wedgetails wombats emus roos
country carnage

straight road
once empty
fills with mirage

outback sandwich
bread so dry
grazes your lips

strays
destocked country
horned danger

row on row
mining camp dongas
wage slave quarters

Driver v Passenger
whose mint lasts
games played on the long road

sun-baked paint peels
five metre depth marker
flood warning

bush flies hitch rides to town
aircon beats hot desert wind
in any language

drill rigs
fly the flag
patriots bodies on the line

Leonora tourist loop
seen the stamp battery?
seen it all

Gwalia townsite
corrugated iron and wood
built a multi-cultural metropolis

in front of the mining registrar building
black bloke's t-shirt reads
WHEN ARE YOU LEAVING?

ground red meat
white bone memorials
cold blue fur
roadside viscera

crows' morning talk
nest raids  attack strikes
bird world terrorists

no bad odours
no humbugging
signage tells a story at the desert pub

conmen liars thieves
famous billionaires
synonyms in mining language