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April 12, 2022

Baby Boomers

Baby boomers slowly fading out,
of a work force they turned about,
mechanicians with an eye for change
from manual loading horse and dray.

Sketches Sketched on work shop floors
metal moulded off the forge in mud guards,
Diffs n sheet steel cabs,
wind up windows, sliding doors.

Baby Booming ain’t the same,
Work Safe put a stop to that,
JSA’s n take 5 forms filled out
before on how ya take a crap.

Certificated tools n cords,
checked on by the safety Bloke
who’d a been regarded as a joke
in days gone by long gone before.

The Baby Boomers toiled and built
adapted tools unencumbered by the rules👎
🎶Before we didn’t know we couldn’t🎶”

Echoed forth in Bugle blasts
attending wars showing the way,
back home @ last to clear
the land they’d fought
n saved to call their own.

The Bugles silent,
no ones home to be or care,
most gone FIFO or kickin’
back on Social care.

Baby Boomers race is run,
snake oil sales, mean girl
smooth talk plot Australia’s
shaky course
in a world crying out for change,
locked on line on J. S. A.

JT 🙏

John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
> For our US friends, A “ute” is a utility vehicle; a pickup truck.
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional

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June 28, 2021

Strong, Capable and Creative

Strong, Capable and Creative

They want to save the valley
It’s written in their creed.
They want to save the valley
With its strong creative breed.
They want the people living there
Coping with their lot
To accommodate an influx
Of a totally different mob.

People who’ve read smart adverts
And admired rows of vines,
Sipped a chardonnay or claret
Deciding their new home
And the vines looked “Oh, so lovely!”
But they weren’t aware that tractors
Actually cultivate the vines.

And harvesters thrash endlessly
Through long hot summer nights
With a back-up team of trucks and tractors
And glaring white arc lights
Not to mention presses pressing
And augers churning in the night,
Pumping, churning, pressing fruit
To the tanks from vines.

They want to save the valley
With its strong creative breed,
But they’re hungry for suburbia
With its rates and fees on fees.
They will not be happy
Till the ‘eaves are wall-to-wall
And the gutters bucket acid rain
On the once rich valley floor.

The vines are watered daily
By a brand new shire truck
And the job is done by smoko
‘Cause the vines have been ripped up,
All in the name of progress
For those with no horses, vines or trucks.

👍 jt

John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
> For our US friends, A “ute” is a utility vehicle; a pickup truck.
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional

Enter your email address and get a Poet Down Under poem sent directly to your inbox each Friday

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June 21, 2021

John Deere Ringers

John Deere Ringers

Out on the flat
Cattlemen assemble with their gear;
Not camp drafting trucking bullocks.
They’ve hoe and fertiliser.

Forklift for a steed;
“Watermelon Jack” not “Brumby Jack”
More often herd these days.
Steady throb of little tractors
Replace bull buggy and aeroplane

No need to pray for cyclones
Or steady winter rain,
Wind, droughts – they’re unafraid.
It gushes forth deep underground,
Powered by diesoline.

Flowing down the channels
Water sprayed through sprinklers on the ground
Irrigating tons of melons
Through a lattice work of foliage
On once red dusty ground.

👍 jt

Enter your email address and get a Poet Down Under poem sent directly to your inbox each Friday

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John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
> For our US friends, A “ute” is a utility vehicle; a pickup truck.
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional


No Comments

June 14, 2021

Cruising The Swan Valley

Cruising The Swan Valley

Cruising the Swan Valley
Sampling rum, fine wine and beer
When clouds obliterated
My view to the rear.

At first I thought a rain squall
Had overcast the sky
When klaxons strident comment
Blared very close behind.

A road train signs in my rear-view,
Bull bar and towing eye,
Mudguards and bonnet rearing
Amongst the clouds and sky.

Transfixed by bulldog’s baleful stare
Intent on somewhere up ahead
Through the Swan and back again.

Faster through the valley
Past crossroads, tourist signs
Tailgate trailers swinging
Evil bulldog eyes.

Out in the farming country
Round Brajkovich’s bends
Hounded by that bulldog
Never coming back again.

A long truck bay’s inviting;
Escape the dreaded lash
Of engine roar and turbo scream
Between each gearbox crash.

Quick twist on the steering
Off the black top track
Too hard touring the valley
Mixing with the road trains.

👍 jt

Enter your email address and get a Poet Down Under poem sent directly to your inbox each Friday

Delivered by Google’s FeedBurner


John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
> For our US friends, A “ute” is a utility vehicle; a pickup truck.
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional


No Comments

June 7, 2021

Lamonts

Lamonts

Waited on the sippers
For a corner of the bar.
Had a light red or cabernet
Passed casually my way –
Never missed a top up
As the crowd passed comment and stayed.

Assisted loading cartons of Lamonts’ selected wines;
Courtesy boot lights glow
As we load ‘em up with wine.

They generally leave
With one just for the road;
Luncheon ending in
A taste all afternoon.

Thrown a heap of olive seeds
Outside the winery bar;
Topped a glass with ice blocks
Late summer afternoons.

Heated debate laced with Verdelho –
A volatile sputtering fuse.

Last few half bottles of tasting wine;
Sliding winery door – corrugated iron;
Holding back – reluctant to go;
Night bush noises – burr of the phone
Answered by a mechanical tone.

Clink of glasses – rustling leaves;
Kangaroo pads through the trees.

Come on you lot;
Lamonts finally closed.

👍 jt

Enter your email address and get a Poet Down Under poem sent directly to your inbox each Friday

Delivered by Google’s FeedBurner


John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
> For our US friends, A “ute” is a utility vehicle; a pickup truck.
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional


No Comments

May 24, 2021

Andy’s Block and Vines

Andy’s Block and Vines

A Caterpillar tractor
Pushes posts and tangled wire,
Niggling strainers from their footings,
Stacking bonfire piles
Topped with ragged drying racks
Left from another time.

Willy-willies whirl across the flat
Once cultivated vines.
Hard to see the rows of melons
In their irrigated lines.

Top soil and grasses graded,
Compacted parking bays and signs
And the restaurant and showrooms
Overlook a few solitary vines.

The house they’d dreamed and saved for
Deroofed with sightless doors and eyes;
Years of careful gardening
Undone in one mechanical swipe.

An auctioneer’s number’s on
The Massey tractor’s side
Other lots are laid out
In half a dozen lines

And a pile of memorabilia
Awaits a final fire.

👍 jt

Enter your email address and get a Poet Down Under poem sent directly to your inbox each Friday

Delivered by Google’s FeedBurner


John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
> For our US friends, A “ute” is a utility vehicle; a pickup truck.
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional


No Comments

May 16, 2021

Trick Talkers

Trick Talkers

They’ll stand and tell their story
Reading off their lines
Familiar with the process
Repeated many times.

Reverting to trick clauses
Amongst the many lines
Tangled in their meaning
To confused un-bureaucratic minds.

Hidden meaning changing lifestyles,
Hidden meanings stripping rights,
Casual reference to slick changes
Of curfews round 9 to 5.

👍 jt

Enter your email address and get a Poet Down Under poem sent directly to your inbox each Friday

Delivered by Google’s FeedBurner


John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
> For our US friends, A “ute” is a utility vehicle; a pickup truck.
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional


No Comments

March 26, 2021

They Did It Down In Freo

They Did It Down In Freo

They did it down in “Freo”,
They polished up the town,
Upped the rates on business
And closed a whole lot down.
Set the pace at a frantic rate
And milled the traffic round.

They could do what they did in “Freo”
If no-one makes a sound:
Up the rates on vignerons
And make the trucks go round.

They’ll not shift the fishing boats
And the trucks won’t go around.

Cease the incessant chatter
Of harvesters all night,
Stop the tractors’ diesel rattle
And flashing yellow lights,
Reduce the risk of spraying mist;
Simply bulldoze the vines.

They could do what they did in “Freo”
If no-one makes a sound.


No Comments

March 26, 2021

Industry On The Swan

Industry On The Swan

There’s backyards in the valley
Right on the southern end
And the shire dump all their product
For road making and such.
There’s a steady stream of traffic
Carting to and fro and the rigs are getting bigger
Thanks to Charlton, Court and correct.

Now they’ve planned a new schoolhouse
‘Tween the mill and brickyard lights
And you should see the line up
At 9am to 3 each night.
There’s Volvos and Mercedes and every make between
With carry cots and safety seats.
And baby sleeping signs
As they vie for position with no passing lane,
Depositing their older kids, dodging north and south road train,
Dodging tippers carting clay in,
Dodging brick trucks heading out
And the shire joins the antics carting tar and stone about
And up and down the valley there’s black marks on the road
Where the housewife or the farmers tangled with a heavy load.

And you’ll hear the hiss of air brakes and the klaxon horns command
As he drops down half a dozen gears and directs the rig around.

This process is repeated throughout the valley drive
And it’s a credit to the drivers there’s not some loss of life.

It’s great to see light industry flourishing on the Swan;
Great to be part of it involved here on the Swan.


No Comments

March 22, 2021

Comes with the Life

Comes with the Life

“It’s a pace,” he said,
“Comes with the life”,
As his arm stretched out,
Palm turned upright.

It’s the way things are,
Out on the Swan,
Not much more to add,
Just took half the night
And a decent taste
Of valley wine.

Sunburnt arms and calloused hands implore
Tanned faces stoic reprimand
On row on row of fresh hoes dirt
Of steady trickle irrigate
Bursting in tangled jungle vines
Tractors working down the lines.

“It’s a pace,” he said,
“Comes with the life”.
Pushing back his hat,
Squinting against the light.


No Comments

March 19, 2021

George Street, Middle Swan

George Street, Middle Swan

I’ve always had a backhoe
For digging holes and stuff
And, of course, I need to shift it,
So I’ve got an old Mack truck.

I’ve got a coupla trailers
‘Cause there’s always loads to cart
That help to make the payments
And reduce the overdraft.

I’ve got a block of land
Out of Midland on the Swan
And every time the Mack’s come home
We’ve stacked the backload on.

There’s trusses scrounged from Westrail
There’s trusses ex nor-west
Pipe for making stockyards
And a stack of new and used fan belts
That’d fit most anything
If you only knew the size.

The neighbours were at first amused
Interest growing in the pile
But as it progressed down the fence,
Spreading nice and wide,
Amusement turned to great concern
And they approached the Shire
Who steadily compiled a file.

They couldn’t do before shots,
The pile obscured the vines,
And the road once known as George Street’s
Now a wrecker’s parking lot.
There’s trucks, cranes and dollies
And piles of pipe and snot
Diligently recorded
In after comments and shots!

They put a case together
Based on non-approval from the Shire
To use the land for anything
Than the agricultural side
And made detailed arrangements
To clean up Taylor’s George Street lot.

They consulted with the owners
And sipped tea in the shade.
They walked the course
And sighted lines
To where it would be cleared,
Then after shifting several lots,
Some to the tip,
Some left on chocks,
The pile just seemed to ebb and flow
As the Mack would come and go.

Then the Shire in desperation
Issued a final ultimatum:
There’ll be no trailers,
There’ll be no Mack,
There’ll be no new house down the back!
Remove the backhoe from the block.
Desist from stacking road trains of snot.
You’ve got 10 days to clear the block!

They consulted with the owners
And sipped long cups of tea.
They walked the course
And measured up where the new house would be.
As the future was discussed
They boys kept loading up the truck
Until George Street was straight and clear.
Truck parked neatly, screened at the rear.

👍 jt

Enter your email address and get a Poet Down Under poem sent directly to your inbox each Friday

Delivered by Google’s FeedBurner


John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
> For our US friends, A “ute” is a utility vehicle; a pickup truck.
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional


No Comments

March 12, 2021

Tracking Back

Tracking Back

There’s bits left by the roadside,
Little bits left as I go,
Markers for me coming back,
Markers spaced around the run.

Tracks criss-cross,
Time for none.
Brilliant bits glare in the sun,
Blazing torches as night falls,
Flare paths forging
All points north.

Long lost ranges,
Longer stares.
Bits torn off,
Rack back there.

Jigsaw markers carefully retrieved,
Patching pieces on a tear,
Tracking back;
Soon be there.

👍 jt

Enter your email address and get a Poet Down Under poem sent directly to your inbox each Friday

Delivered by Google’s FeedBurner


John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
> For our US friends, A “ute” is a utility vehicle; a pickup truck.
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional


No Comments

March 5, 2021

Time out on the Swan

Time out on the Swan

They had a vision splendid to work out on the Swan,
Encouraging development in art and wine and song.
Some bought their dream, some scraped and saved,
Others just moved on,
Cashing in their properties out there on the Swan.

They had a vision splendid requiring office space
To house more office jockeys – help regulate their pace.
They have their vision splendid, sat in the Swan shire tower
Purple circle motions insidious brown shirt power,
Vision splendid on the frontline, some upped stumps and left the Swan,
Changing seasons, cultures dictate time out on the Swan.

👍 jt

Enter your email address and get a Poet Down Under poem sent directly to your inbox each Friday

Delivered by Google’s FeedBurner


John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
> For our US friends, A “ute” is a utility vehicle; a pickup truck.
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional


No Comments

February 25, 2021

You’re in the Country

You’re in the Country

When tractor trailer units
Are novelties to comment on,
Once piled high with produce
Delivering round the Swan,

When one fifth acre holdings
Are the norm and creeping on,
And the red loam fertile valley
Grows brick condominions,

When industry is hemmed in
By creeping urbania,
Permits and grants are nothing
Against a politician’s likes,

Build up a comfy buffer zone
Round your winery or truck
To hedge against new neighbours;
My friend, I wish you luck.

Rates levied will rock you
And they’ll increase every half
As one fifth acre properties
Encroach closer every year,

And you’ll look ever despondently
At prices from your crop
And finally flog off your hedge
Against the other lot

Which lobs you in suburbia:
No spray mist or cattle yards;
Wine comes in by courier –
No space for vines or truck.

Talk about spray mist
Before talking of sub- divide,
About wineries and tractors,
About glaring arc lights.

Mention there’ll be cattle
Worked in those rustic yards
And the soft low
Turns to bawling
As they’re hot brand and ear marked.

Disregard the four-lane highway
And fast commuter train:
You’re out here in the country
And agriculture hasn’t changed.

👍 jt


No Comments

January 21, 2020

Season’s Plying By

Season’s Plying By

There’s blokes been out there shearin’,
share croppin’ and the like
and they’ve worked their way up slowly
to a different way of life.

A way they dreamed n worked for
an acreage they’d own
along of course with bankers,
stock agents wheelin’ by.

There’s blokes been out there workin’
with wives n kids on side,
workin’ along steady
as seasons slowly ply.

Seasons cross the ages
as seasons ply their course,
hot n dry and flooded.
Parchment landscape marks the course.

There’s blokes been out there workin’,
hard at it on their block,
clearin’ land n seedin’.
Bit o shearin’, still of course.

There’s blokes still out there working
with wives n kids n crew,
other cultures mounting.

Banks changing out their course
as agents pay attention.
‘Gainst seasons plyin’ by.
Blokes’re out their shearin’.
Still out there for a try.

👍 jt


JT’s novel “The Ute” is now physical
the ute novel physical copy
> Available from Lulu.com in Paperback (pictured) for AU$24.99
> Now available at Lulu.com (Digital ePUB version) for AU$3.50
> Also available on iTunes and Barnes & Noble book stores.
> 1st edition of “The Ute” (34pp shorter) still available on Kindle (Kindle)
JT on Facebook

Paperback Electronic
Weight 0.41kg 0kg
Pages 238pp big writing 2000pp
Dimensions (cm) 14.81 x 20.98 4 dimensional


No Comments

Baby Boomers
Strong, Capable and Creative
John Deere Ringers
Cruising The Swan Valley
Lamonts
Andy’s Block and Vines
Trick Talkers
They Did It Down In Freo
Industry On The Swan
Comes with the Life
George Street, Middle Swan
Tracking Back
Time out on the Swan
You’re in the Country
Season’s Plying By