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.

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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

John’s novel “The Ute” is now physical

> 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.

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