Leaving the dust behind
The view is blocked up ahead from
Tall treetops lined-up, side by side, tight like tin soldiers
Heads heavy with snow
Hiding the shadows falling behind them.
She powers through
Searching for the horizon beyond her eyeline
She’s lost it.
Closer, crystalised branches capture time
Rigid fingertips greet her
Like ghost gums caught by surprise
The view is blocked up ahead from
Tall treetops lined-up, side by side, tight like tin soldiers
Heads heavy with snow
Hiding the shadows falling behind them.
She powers through
Searching for the horizon beyond her eyeline
She’s lost it.
Closer, crystalised branches capture time
Rigid fingertips greet her
Like ghost gums caught by surprise
But nothing compares to the sting of eucalypt
When the stench leaks out
Held forever in her senses.
Boughs bowing as she flies through
Time not stopping to pause or ponder
Missing the moments the storm blew over.
Signs wizz by hazy as the push of traffic forces her forward.
Just follow the flow
Iced verges and jagged lines of mud white, glide along
Slip under the body of the moving vehicle which carries her force,
Ice particles blow across the highway in a rush
Attacking her concentration
In zigzag formation trying to trip her up from her thoughts
Like the dry dirt dusting away at her blistering speeds
Rounding at her heels they drag her into past tracks.
Lunging her into reverse the road turns grey asphalt
Verges burn off and the red ochre takes over her
Journey returns to the red centre.
Unable to refer to the past without heat
Without the beat of the path to Tennant Creek
Temperature rises inside her but her itchy feet
remain cold.
The crown of the woman who chose her own place
Slips from her sweaty hands.
The kilometers slip by without notice
and just as quickly as she forms the thought of belonging,
It’s gone, without warning.
Parallel to the sisters’ dreaming
Alongside the old aunties heeding, she powers on.
Screaming around a wrong turn
Voice echoing over frozen lakes
Flight from fight leads her to lose sight of the might in which she held her own head high
Running from the choices she left behind.
Image 1: www.independentpeople.net
Image 2:http://www.talkingtrees.com.au/
Image 3: greatmirror.com
Image 4: waterandsky.com.au