Princes Highway

Princes Highway


      The colony was
           an evil thing
            it snaked along 
                 a poisonous course.
                          Displaced,
                                   pilgrim
                                   settler 
                                        forced.
                     
                                        Move aside
                               We’re coming through!
                                       to multiply 
                                     procreate
                                 dominate.
          
                    The hungry 
               chained 
          flinty hooves 
          ruined soil
           ancient bones
           Murnong spoilt 
                  its roots exposed. 
                       I hear the sounds
                             of ancient groans.
                    
                                       Two lanes meander
                                              Ant-nest fringed
                                                eucalypts, tree fern 
                                                     paddocks cleared.
                                                   Gurnai to Yuin
                                          Jirribitti Dreaming
                                            the snake must 
                                         shed its skin.
            
           
                                  

Published Australian Poetry Digital, 1, 2025, and 34 to 37 Degrees South, SCWC Poetry Anthology, 2022.