Poem # 12 A horrible drive in the rain

The following poem is an example of the kind I mentioned previously, it is in the first person narrative voice, it is not my voice. The illustration is of a Toyota Landcruiser FJ50 set up for buffulo catching or shooting. In the 1960s in Arnhem Land buffulo roamed in such numbers they caused a significant impact on the environment. My neighbour across the road Ron Ball was an authorised buff shooter and catcher. He used a vehicle like this, and up until the 1980s ran a very successful business in Arnhem Land on the Marrakai plains. Ron would tell me typical Northern Territory stories, for example, in the shooting camp they had a number of mini bikes, one night waking a little the worse for wear Ron decided to save energy by riding to the outhouse on a mini bike rather than walking. He headed off into the darkness and was going full throttle when the bike became airborne, and it was only 50cc. In the morning he was bemused to see skid marks up the side of a grazing buffulo. The following poem is not about Ron, Arnhem land, or buffuloes, but it is about a four wheel drive.

A Horrible Drive in the rain

I started my brand new
Pajero V6 3500 4WD this morning
it has all the luxery appointments
air conditioning, GPS, state of art audio,
leather seats
it cost $80,000
My wife and I had to scrimp and save to buy this car
but it was worth it!
I started it and went for a drive in the rain
I like to drive it each morning before I drive our old car to work,
and then put it away in the garage to stay clean and dry.
This morning was horrible, in the rain.
A skink was caught in my five speed wipers which were beating at level
three.
It had no hope,
first a leg came off
then a tail
then another leg with its small webbed feet,
then its head.
I could clearly see the look of despair
in its small black eyes.
Pieces of it were stuck all over my windscreen --- what a nuisance!
Further down the road it happend again
I hit some small furry thing that was scampering across the road
I was really annoyed!
There was a red stain and an eyeball on my new gun metal grey duco.
And finally
a parrot flew straight into my grille.
That made me really, really annoyed!
it took three cans of aerosol
and heaps of degergent to get those red,green, yellow, and blue feathers
out of my front end.
They ought to get rid of all these things
that cause you so much trouble
and dirty your rig!