Traveston Revisited

Well, it hardly matters now, the
pretence was just another smoke-
screen, reflections of a none too rosy
future gleaned from a set of hazy pictures
dreamed in steamy Brisbane rooms.

The glimpse of subtle substance dressed
gave scant evidence the thought was ever
there, perhaps – and yet it was distressed
in words its owners set upon in glowing phrase
that praised the ground where cattle grazed.

And so the players raised the stakes – outbid
each other in a race to win a swinging vote.
It merely stoked the fires of greed, set funeral pyres
alight to oust the feeding frenzy where we’d see.
And now the dearth has claimed its share – the

travesty of Traveston has been declared in drought.
No doubt the callow wimps who took the cash and
ran will curse while bankers wring their oily hands
and grind their teeth in mock chagrin; every precious
cent they’ve spent came from an empty Public purse...
© 2 April 2007, I.D. Carswell