ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

TOUGH……Maureen Clifford © The Scribbly Bark Poet


The dark thoughts gathered in his head, he pushed them all away.
No time for that he told himself, it’s just another day
but in his head they lingered still as they had done all week
Farming’s a trap for fools he thought
a lifestyle he had never sought
but one his family had bought
that now was looking bleak.

Here he was, near middle aged, a bloke with no profession
‘cause farming didn’t count for nowt. Was this a true confession?
The farmers left to stand alone the enemy to fight.
None blessed with immortality,
all mired in debt, not fancy free;
effecting personality.
How many cried at night?

He straightened up, and strode on out, for work was still there waiting
and hungry cattle to be fed – scant feed anticipating
No time to mull on what was said, the farce of words that wound and hurts,
for farming is no wussie’s game
the blokes are tough, women the same
the country too – dammed hard to tame.
To hard for those stuffed shirts.

Interesting Maureen. Your poem emphasises individualism versus the collective of " stuffed shirts " . I'll meditate on that do you think that rugged individualism still holds in our country ( I'm not saying yes or no )

Oh I do Neville, I so do - I am still on a few farming forums and sites and reading what these folks are going through regularly reduces me to tears because I know how tough it is and what they are doing and how it messes with their heads and yet they keep on keeping on. Some might say they are stupid - but they're not. They are determined, pig headed, tough and between a rock and a hard place with literally nowhere to go but to rely on their gut instinct, courage and what they know best how to do. Their stoicism and optimism humbles me every day and I get so angry that support in many cases is given so grudgingly.

These men and women on the land in my eyes are bloody heroes - but in the main they are unrecognized and unacknowledged especially by a large % of their city cousins and it isn't a them and us thing. If you have never had to do what they are doing how could you possible know and our media tend to skirt around the real issues. I can't imagine having to go out in one day and shoot 640 head of cattle and yet one of the girls on a property has done just that with her husband. They were out of water, out of feed, out of money and the stock were too weak to truck to the sale yards. The stock transporters wouldn't take them. They were starving and dying and this couple had bred, and nurtured and raised these cattle with kindness and consideration - they were in effect loved, not to the degree of a domestic dog/cat but loved for their indiviual traits and foibles and natures. They were stock that had been individually handled over time and were quiet and calm and easy to handle. So you walk up with a gun and they stand and wait for you. The kids ponies copped a similar fate. I couldn't do that. They then have to chain them by the legs and drag them over to a 'bone' pile behind the tractor or truck, knowing that every one is $'s just gone to waste and most already have debt they can't jump over from buying feed to try and save them.

That's the side that most don't see and the fact that the kids see it and have learnt to accept it. Life shouldn't be like that - but for many sadly it is.

Can't tell you how excited I am to share this with you mob - you've got to see it within minutes of it going on line - http://www.theaustraliatimes.com/emagaz ... /issue101/

Hi Maureen
I haven't been in for a while so just read your poem. It is so true and so sad. I have family on the land and I never begrudge them any good times they have for most have lived through the hell you have written about. They all seem so 'rugged' on the outside but inside they bleed just like the rest of us. Nice work! Very thought provoking! So close to the heart. I guess I lean a bit to current issues or social statements - nice way of expressing our emotions.

Cheers

Dot

Thanks Dot - appreciate your reading and commenting and glad my words capture the issue - it is one that is dear to my heart as well