the great silence of Australia

By Adam Gibson ©

on through Broadway
appearing beneath the bright lights
of George Street
flashing towards Parramatta Road,
my brother and I are heading west.

and if you keep on going,
you will end up there –
Perth, the Indian Ocean,
the great plains of nothing,
the silent nights of Australia,
the great silence,
the great emptiness

you versus the landscape,
and how you can leave it all behind,
and you need to be tough and able to fight,
and I am neither,
and should begin my training.

the desert nights
and the boogiemen in the ghost fires,
the featherfoots Gabe told me about,
who walk among sleeping bodies

and the truck drivers who sleep upright
in cabin seats,
the burble of CB radios
bubbling the air with static hiss

and long winding quietness
unravelling into spirit homes
against the tree-lined river beds

of the great silence of Australia