FLAME TREES by LOREN RYAN. Poem by Michael Leach.

 

 

Dja Dja Wurrung Country, Monday 18 September 2023

 

A new week has dawned

outside this all-but-empty house

in the country

that I’ve come to call home.

 

As Monday morn

becomes more of a memory,

I stay seated at my desk

with a sick cavoodle on my lap

and a view of grey kangaroos out the window.

 

Distance is dissolved

by the livestream on my screen:

though I’m here on Dja Dja Wurrung Country,

I could be there on Bunurong Country

attending my institution’s once-in-a-generation

Voice to Parliament event.

 

I love how the speeches & songs

have built up to this sole song:

a stripped-back cover

of Cold Chisel’s Flame Trees

by Loren Ryan & Paul Grabowski.

 

I hear the pair

perform so powerfully:

Paul impressively presses piano keys,

                                       accompanying Loren

as she skilfully strums guitar strings

and sings.

 

Her strong country voice

is less familiar than the voices

of Barnesy & Blasko.

Her strong country voice is a necessity.

 

My heart of hearts swells at the sounds

of Loren singing in the revived language

of her Gomeroi ancestors

on either side of the key change

that comes at the bridge.

 

Her final words of song

soundtrack a sight in the background—

behind the livestream on my screen—

the sight of those grey kangaroos

hopping past gumtrees

across my neighbour’s vast paddock

as though it were 65 thousand years ago.

 

I reflect on something Loren said

right before singing this last song:

to listen

to your heart

when the question is asked.

 

My heart says a simple ‘Yes’

a million times over.

 

 

Stereo Story #740

 

The Uluru Statement from the Heart