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Special N.02 – Poets speak up to Adani

Coral not Coal

by Kristin Hannaford

 

 

 

Coral polyps, like ashen fingers raised

in passing of a season gone too soon,

whiten as our politicians betray

 

both the Wangan and Jagalingou’s ways –

a gesture of ecological doom.

Coral polyps, their ashen fingers raised

 

trace the fine print of legislative phrase

revealing truths that we mustn’t impugn,

whiten as the politicians betray

 

our children’s future and reef as it weighs

heavy on the tide of rhetoric strewn.

Coral polyps with ashen fingers raised

 

conduct the coda of coal’s song of praise,

notes drift like silt over cities immune

that blacken as our politics betray.

 

In the North, as the island palm trees sway,

divers map bleached reef like marble hewn –

coral polyps, like ashen fingers raised,

whiten as our politicians betray.

Published: August 2022
Kristin Hannaford

Kristin Hannaford’s poems surface in a range of Australian and International literary journals, and as Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service signage. Kristin’s latest collection, Curio (Walleah Press 2014), invites readers into the world of taxidermists Jane Tost and Ada Rohu — a world of artefacts, curiosities and natural history specimens.

An Australian and international
journal of ecopoetry and ecopoetics.

Plumwood Mountain Journal is created on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to elders past, present and future. We also acknowledge all traditional custodians of the lands this journal reaches.

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