Yaka Yaka

Endless troopie hours
         between craters and dunes;
there was no need to speak.
         We pull up at what’s left of a town.
He in the Wu Tang Clan gear
         and red, yellow and black bandana
shows me where his nephew hung
         himself from a playground crossbeam
after too many sniffing hours.
         Wind from battered pink plains
brings blanketing dust, heat,
         a wave of Painted Finches.


Lorne Johnson (NSW)

Lake Gregory

By the blinding
salt-pool
three brothers
fresh out of a Broome lockup
down XXXX and stare through
weed-haze
at three brolgas
beginning their
final dance.


Lorne Johnson (New South Wales)

‘XXXX’, pronounced ‘four-ex’, is an Australian brand of beer.