Up Near The Overflow. Poem by Geoffrey Fafard

Because of whatever you want to call it
Climate change or poor wet
I had a tough job finding my fish
Up near the overflow yesterday
In the morning sunlit outback
Kookaburras and Kingfishers
Watched me sweat near the river
I looked for shade under the melaleucas
And at rivers edge nearby
As quietly I sat in the shadows
Just watching silently, Archer fish,
Long Tom and Tarpon swim
In each others company
In one of north Australia's great lost rivers.

I was chasing Barramundi and I'm good at it
Way up here 200 kilometres inland
On this over flow lying up in nowhere land
Wild pigs joined me, dingoes looked on
Resident hawks sent shrill messages
Out along the overflow.
A western brown slinked into the shade deeper
I wiped my brow with a hand of water
From the cool river billabong
And thats when I saw him finning
Under a log, deep, calm, cool, safe.

Long and silver, ancient and modern
Just like the countless I have caught
Before him and I asked
'Are you it the last of your type
Here in this pristine dream country? '
Well answer me'
He quickly turned and fled
Deep into the timber.
I crept away through the bush
With nothing in my hand
And everything in my mind
I'm glad you're still there
You silver thing.