The Melbourne Fires [from J.R.Poulter]

The terrible devastation of the Melbourne Bushfires and the terrible loss of over 200 lives, hit the headlines internationally. Large areas of Melbourne lie charred and blackened. Spring will see bright green shoots burst out of the blackened earth and nature will start its work of regeneration. But human lives are not so quickly mended. Though they might rebuild the towns and the physical scars will heal, nothing will ever be the same again.

The poem, The Journey, was inspired by Ron Chironna’s evocative painting with the central image of the lone rider at night in winter, obviously on a mission. It got me thinking of those brave folk,  firefighters and others, who went to help the bushfire victims out here in Australia, going to help, not knowing if they would be in time or what they might find, but still going, still hoping.

The second, poem, “Survivors”, was inspired by Arti Chauhan’s painting of a little girl whose face portrayed very mixed emotions. The image made me think of the sort of very mixed feelings survivors were coping with as they tried to set about pulling their lives back together. All sense of normalcy has been swept away by the devastation of bushfire.

To me, the child in the painting is sitting in a makeshift shelter shed with the only possession left, a toy rabbit. She and her family have survived and, sitting alone, she begins to realise that she is in fact fortunate to be alive and have her family, whilst many others are either horribly injured or dead. For her like many others, this raises mixed feelings which show in her face. Relief, yes, she and her loved ones are together and safe, grief for lost friends, fear for the future and a dawning sense of mixed guilt and responsibility for those less fortunate.

If you click on the  titles of the poems, they can be downloaded from www.sharing-books.com as posters featuring Ron and Arti’s inspiring paintings. Topics are listed for the benefit of teachers and librarians and home-schooling parents.

The Journey, by J.R.Poulter 09

Shadows lengthen, sharpen, stretch, 

Claws  out from the gray ridge etched.

Gliding silent the night birds come.

My fingers on the reins are numb.

The distant shimmer of the moonrise glows

Casts its soft light on late winter snows.

I see a curl of smoke among the pines,

Out here, this is an unaccustomed fire.

Am I arrived, please let it be, in time?

Am I too late, is this a funeral pyre?

Topics for teachers & Librarians:  journeys, expectation, fear, rescue, disaster, tragedy, fate, rescue workers

Survivors by J.R.Poulter

It was a last thing she had made,

Sitting in the garden’s shade,

Listening to the whispering firs.

The daisy chain like all the rest

Is cinders now or broken.

No thing is left that once was hers.

Something deep inside her stirs,

An understanding’s woken.

She has survived, her family too

And baby’s toy, a token

Of a life that’s gone and memories

That will remain unspoken.

Topics : survival, natural disasters, family, togetherness, memories, toys, fire, bushfire,