Mixing with the miners

[Dateline: Newman, Western Australia, 10.48am, 18/07/07]

By Adam Gibson ©

goatees galore,
keys are hitched
from belts
as jeans ride
up over the
top of boots
and bulky jackets
holding beefy torsos
squeeze into plane seats
with blokey jokes about
this prick did this
and
then this prick did that
and,
as the plane
pierces the Perth air to prepare
to head up to the
mining boomtowns
of the great nor'wsst,
where 200 million tonnes
of iron ore will be
pushed offshore this year,
i feel un-beefy and un-blokey,
trying to blend in
with the scene
and fingering
my non-existent beard,
wishing to god that
i'd considered
growing one