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Peter M. Atkins
I believe that a person becomes the product of their life experiences. My life’s experiences ranged from windmill erector/repairer out at the back of Bourke, White Cliffs and Wanaaring, through to ...view moreI believe that a person becomes the product of their life experiences. My life’s experiences ranged from windmill erector/repairer out at the back of Bourke, White Cliffs and Wanaaring, through to abattoir worker in Canberra, Townsville and Bourke. Pest control man based in Perth, Canberra and Wagga which allowed me to access to each cities surrounding areas. Laboratory assistant at Macquarie University involved in antivenin research against the Sydney Funnel Web spiders’ venom. Bull catching up the Gibb River road and down towards the Great Sandy Desert in the Kimberly. Orderly, ambulance driver and mortuary attendant at Derby district hospital Western Australia for three different dry seasons and one wet season. Mining exploration in 1981 east of Turkey Creek to the Bungle Bungles and down the Duncan Highway to the upper reaches of the Ord River. 1986-88 spent in mining exploration from Charters Towers to the Clarke River and at Maytown and Barrow Point. Manufacturer of Goanna Swags of Bourke that saw the bright lights of the advertising world on Great Temptation, Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune and Price is Right. Other occupations took me to Port Adelaide, Queensland railway Dalby, the opal fields of White Cliffs and western Queensland, mail truck driver from Bourke to Wanaaring, hay carter out of Katanning and Ballarat, contract painter in Isisford, over 20,000 miles of hitch hiking in Australia and New Zealand, six times across the Nullarbor and five years living as a hermit in a tin shack by the Darling River. Had a tumour removed from my neck which involved radiotherapy for my 21st birthday and resulted in severe facial palsy for my 27th birthday. An abscess burst in my belly and took away 200mm of my colon in 1997 from which I learnt the meaning of wearing a colostomy bag. I have made and lost friends, some passed on while others I left behind. These are the wins, losses and the trials that made me the person I am happy to be, and which gave birth to my book “Short Stories in Rhyme”. There is of course one last thing. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis fifteen years ago near the beginning of my books writing, so I now live in a wheelchair and travel abroad to the boardwalk on a mobility scooter. I dedicated my book to ‘Those who remind us our faith in human nature’. They are all around, family, friends, carers, community nurses, Homecare. Those who see to it that I am able to cope with the tasks that I used to take for granted, change my catheters and pick me up when I fall. Everyday Australians to whom I am thankful to, for their patience and their choice of careers.
CONTENTS
MY FRIEND
If you needed my eyes to see for you
the light of the moon or a star
TO SEE, TO TOUCH, TO BE
To awake and watch the sunrise
in colours red and gold
THE PARADE
The band struck up the anthem
as the soldiers moved along main
WISHES
A rising river miles away washes dirt and black soil clay
through gullies deep until this place I see
THE LONELY BUSHMANS MATE
Even with his woolly coat
the wind still blew right through
LOOKING BACK
He looked back at the little boy
and pulled a funny face
THE MARINERS MEANING IN LIFE
Loose the mooring ropes me hearties
leave the harbor lights behind
NATURES PEST CONTROL
Time is short and time flies by
and outback sun dehydrates
OCEAN STORM
Rolling restless water flows
and ebbs from soaking sand
A REMINDER
She’s the rose without the thorn
she’s the light on winters morn
THE RIVER RED GUM
She stood on the banks of the darling
just out of Bourke the town
RABBITS
Soft and furry with fluffy tail
a pet in children’s sleep
SMILES IN STONE
To acres of marble monuments through gates of no return
where angels rest with smiles set in faces of weathered stone
THE PIONEERS HOUSE
Of wattle and daub and plank and board
the settlers house still stands
MY DARLING RIVER
Sunny Sunday warm all around
RIVER TO OCEAN TO CLOUDS
She’d lived by the river
he’d first met her there
SEVENTH HEAVEN
Of gidgee alone, by soot covered stone
a fire alive in its place
THE SWAGMANS DOG
He was a leftover from the depression
that finished twenty years before
A DAY IN HER LIFE
She’s the infinity of spirit gentle
and as light as eiderdown
THE SILENT PARTNER
She’d given her life as a farmer’s wife
lived with the drought on the land
WESTERN AUSTRALIA BY FIRELIGHT
In the still and quiet bush twilight
as sunset leaves the sky
THE WEDDING DRESS
The wedding dress was an ivory shade
bordered with handmade lace
THE WRONG SIDE OF THIRTY NINE
When time is short and the game near played
and forty plus on the scoreboard
ALL SHE WANTED FOR CHRISTMAS
He kissed his wife and lover
and hugged his children three
FROM ONE EXTREME TO ANOTHER
Fluid the flooding river
of rain when fallen, flows
IN WAYS MYSTERIOUS
If God wills the rains will come
and the earth will drink ‘til full
VENGENCE NEVER ENDED
The buzz of the bee begins with flight
buzzing by contented
A FISH STORY
Usually when he told a lie
of fish he’d caught on line
I COULD
I could walk the hills of my homeland
or over mountains carved in stone
ECHOES OF FLORENCE
With footfall light through dark of night
the sentinel finds her way
GOLD TO SILVER TO STONE
Look there in gold she raises
a silent glowing ball
THE PARTY
It’s time to leave the party
I know you don’t want to go
THE BLADE SHEARER
He was a shearer from the outback
his blows were self taught style
BOGGED
There’s no moonlight, just a star lit night
with the colour of the darkness all around
BUSH POETS NIGHT
North Bourke hotel, bush poets night
stories tall but true
DUST, STORM, RAIN
The sun shines through in silver
red clouds of grit wind blown
CASKET OF MEMORIES
The casket held pictures and pieces
from the corners of this land
CHILDRENS IMAGINATION
Of seas and trees and mountain breeze
of frogs and toads and streams
DAYDREAM VAPOUR
Sometimes red in colour
sometimes a lighter grey
A DOGS LIFE
Ah, it’s nice to doze in the sun
‘til my human arrives back home
DREAMING BY THE DARLING RIVER
They’ve irradiated Indian ground
and the earth of Pakistan too
DROUGHT IN DEFEAT
Our wait was always with question
our hope was in decline
MY DARLING RIVER
Sunny Sunday, warm all around
shady tree and stubbies brown
EDGE OF THE NEST
I see your son as he walks away
out into the light of a clear sunny day
A SOFTER SIDE
I hear your stories of floods and drought
of an outback as wide as the sky
Thank you for your patience.
Best of days to you.
Peter M. Atkins.view less