ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM … Maureen Clifford © The #Scribbly Bark Poet


Some claim pink elephants appear when one’s inebriated
can’t claim that I have seen them, or perhaps chose to forget,
and others say that pigs will fly, well I find that unlikely
but life has much to offer and I ain’t seen it all yet.

Right now shake, rattle and roll – there’s an earthquake going on
it’s off the coast of Queensland and the tremors are quite strong.
No sign of a tsunami – all claim that we’re in the clear.
I thank God for small mercies and try to stem the fear.

We had a blue moon here last night. Is this cause and effect?
There’s so much happening with our world and last time that I checked
the news headlines were concentrating on a dental stoush
Lion Cecil pulled the short straw and the dentist took him out.

I get the ire and anger that the Mother must be feeling,
we treat her with impunity – enough to send her reeling
and the earth moved – well I get that, for with anger she must shake
enough to rattle windows many miles from her earthquake.

So make her mad enough and we’ll be sitting in the shadows
lit by candlelight and prophesying on forthcoming doom
as we play the devil’s advocate or soothsayer – won’t help us
for we conveniently ignore the elephant In the room.

Very interesting, Maureen!

We felt the first earthquake well and truly - we were at Hervey Bay with my Mum. I've heard stories told about the sound of an "approaching freight train" just before an earth tremor, and always wondered about that. Now I know what they mean! I actually thought the roar was a military aircraft flying low but before I could look out of the window, the ground began to shake and the crockery was jiving in the cupboard!!

Interestingly enough, the quake we felt on Thursday was 5.3. We did not feel the numerous aftershocks, and neither did we feel today's quake of 5.8. We were home in Maryborough for this larger one - 40 km inland from where we were on Thursday.

Cheers, Shelley

I felt/saw the first one yesterday but actually thought it was the big RAAF plane flying nearby that had caused the china to rattle, it was only that Gary Harding at Harvey Bay at the same time on his FB page mentioned an Earthquake that made me wonder - then of course reports came flooding in - I never felt any of the aftershocks but today sitting at the computer my big screen TV which is right next to it started to wobble and then I felt the tremor - only lasted a few seconds. Scary stuff