#196 Kevin Brophy 'In our place'

#196 ‘In our place’

First they come in to paint the walls free of stains

then they steam clean the outside walls

and shade cloth too then it will be replacing

an old washing machine after propping back up

a fallen fence and re-surfacing eroding

concrete verandahs not forgetting the leaking

cistern and busted water filters

All this keeps all this in place

We are colonized by invisible unstoppable microbes

resistant to anything visiting doctors know about

dismissive of the priest who has come from Africa

somehow

to this small version of a colony

somewhere beyond the earth we know.

Here the boab tree endures

the spinifex endures the red stone endures

ochre dust and spilled stars endure

All this keeps us in our place