Photo Credit: The Guardian Report
February 11, 2020 4:50 am
Though the rains have hammered the Eastern States, it’s a huge relief which comes with a warning.
Photo Credit: The Guardian Report
I’m looking forward to the concert ‘Fire Fight Australia’ on Sunday night although I can’t attend in person I can donate and watch the live telecast thinking of all those who have been effected by the horrible bushfires.
I remember well how frightening it was to hear of the toll taken by one of our favourite haunts in Western Australia.
As commercial fudge producers we attended the colourful and effusive Toodyay Festival celebrating the infamous jail escapee/larrikin Moondyne Joe, before the fire in March 2009 and after, until we retired.
On the 29th December 2009, Toodyay suffered the loss of 60 buildings – 38 of them homes, started by a power pole which fell and ignited a horrendous fire, sweeping mercilessly through the beautiful hills and valleys of Toodyay.
Allen Henshaw chronicled the before and after, in his video about the horrendous fires which pays particular attention to the amazing team of Fire Fighters who eventually stopped the voracious monster in it’s tracks.
In May this year the regular Moondyne Festival will be held but also a Toodyay Bush Poetry Festival held in October over three days. The community does festivals well, so we will be making our way over to attend. Perhaps I can even gather enough courage to read my poem written in response and later published or perhaps write some new…
black ash still lay
where fire had licked
with devil tongues
across the road-side gravel
perhaps a careless cigarette
city slicker thrown
on community fun day
to re-enact Moondyne Joe
quick fire prowled up
summer-dry gullies
stand of ridge trees
wind-break – not fire-breaker
no escape allowed
as bright yellow jackets
smother white foam
contain the bush fire danger
gumtree pale striped
old bark peeled back
green growth beauty
black trees juxtaposed
fresh life canopies
halt Dieback spores
spiked hair sprouts
thousand years and counting
Frances Macaulay Forde © 2009
#BushfireRelief #AussieBushefires #ToodyayFire2009 #POEM:Toodyay #MoondyneFestival #ToodyayBushPoetryFestival
Posted by Frances Macaulay Forde
Categories: Writing
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