Of Drought and Fire: Two Natural Disasters in Australia

. . . and at home we say

if it’s yellow

let it mellow

if it’s brown

flush it on down . . .

Two natural disasters, each on a massive scale, a decade and a half apart.

One is the slow withering that desiccates the soul by increments, the other a raging series of fires burning half a continent in a mad rush of smoke and flame and wind.

Two un-natural disasters, aided and abetted by the relentless destruction of the land we live in and love.

Frank Prem documents a lived experience of these events, parched through drought and singed by fire.

last night

was filled with smoke

I know

I am coughing it up

this morning