A desert fire

[Dateline: Kunawarratji, Well 33, Canning Stock Route,
Western Desert, Western Australia, 11.02pm, 7/08/07]By Adam Gibson ©

one of the old boys lit a fire
- no-one's quite sure why -
and now it's taken off,
burning like buggery
across the night sky
with a funereal glow,
tearing through the spinifex
and the red sand country
east of Kunawarratji.

one of the old boys lit a fire
- i was told his name but
have now forgotten it -
and Troopies and utes
have been dispatched
to check the progress,
to gauge the wind and
the chances of a
change of a direction.

dogs are barking in the 11pm dark,
i can hear the sound of
a distant generator
- one of the old boys lit a fire:
it was Roley Williams but
no-one's quite sure why
he lit it.