.
We have glued ourselves to news
living this out in a living room
that looks like any other
and many others
now somewhere under water
a Tasman Sea away from me.
The others struggle
to find something to say
to this room's token Australian.
We all walk on eggshells.
Recognise some placenames
but not their waterlines
worry about some friends
swear disbelief at this footage
scoff and laugh and fail to realise
I’ve bitten fingernails all the way back.
The changing information
the satellite photos
colour enhanced
the stories
of the survivors
the loss
the death toll
The media release.
The stupid helpless
screen vicarious guilt I get
can’t drain out these states
in the updates.
I watched the bushfires this way too.
All I can do
is think about
eggshells we walk on
For a few decades of life
we are not safe here
we live out lives on eggshell
thin cracked and shifting-pieces
cover a spinning ball of fire
six thousands degrees alive
twelve thousand kilometres wide
we reside inside an envelope of pressure
thin as brave face smile
sustained by a mixture of corrosive gases
and that,
in turn
the only thing protecting us
from the utterly freezing hard
empty cold dark
of the universe.
We are not safe here
walking on egg shell.
Watching the floods
all I can do
is think ~
we own nothing
not our borrowed bodies
used to sit watching this television
in this house on this land
that we own no true lease over
the planet really can
take it all back
at any time.
So
live here
love here
with me be here
because we are not safe here
When the floods
or the fires
the earthquakes
or the cancers
come for you~
You hold your loved ones tight
And hold your head up high
hold on to the idea
that you can hold on
that you held on
and held out.
You did your very best
Planet Earth did the rest
leaving us to clean up the mess
win some and lose some
and all that
in all that’s left
struggle to maintain balance
a challenge
While we walked on eggshells.
__________________________
-Peace
.
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