election day 2013

I am not the only one here in this forest that doesn’t vote.

John has jumped on his BMW to take his turn at the ‘green’ table outside the cobargo school of arts hall. some time during the day he will go inside  and  make his mark on the paper of the insane.

I will remain here checking on the eastern spinebill that banged into our bedroom window while John was eating toast .He picked it up and cradled it against his beating heart .  ‘two crashed into the window’ he said before  placing it ever so softly on a branch in the rhododendron. Last I looked it was still sitting there .

out  in the world that is not  forest there will be a zillion computer systems running stats predicting trends while analysts demonstrate graphs and outcomes .

Already the media has told us who the winner will be.

Will it make a difference?

if you say so but the losers will remain losers.

rivers oceans forests food-producing land creatures birds and people

all losers in this current game of life.

air water earth fire spirit

the elements of life compromised.

but your vote can make a difference they tell us.

really

come on,

are we living in the truth or merely bystanders numb and glum with the tidy baubles of lies fed to us every morning along with our breakfast?

Is it Tony that is concerned about the continued consumption of our forests that reduces the probability of us  taking a breath?

Is  Kevin at all in touch with the deadly effects of fracking on our reservoirs of water held deep within this continent?

are we so in thrall that we would for one second think that their way is anything other than  anti life?

I see you waving a greens banner.

wave it.

I agree they seem a sane voice holding a note of compassion and respect for our beloved Earth, even an understanding perhaps of the road we are travelling on, the dangerous shoals we are already not negotiating and the tip over the edge coming up soon just around another bend in the stagnant river.

I turn to my relations in this forest and seek their feelings on the matter.

walking  out the kitchen door I catch the  powerful black satin wing beats of the raven lifting off from near the house with something in its mouth.

aah-aah-aah-aaaah    aah-aah-aaah-aaaah

ah busy multi tasking  I see.

I ask the teenagers going past wallaby one and two. svelte grey with hints of red ears swivel. dark eyes stare.  a lime leaf is chewed and another then another  breakfast on the hop bouncing over each other .

maybe tony and kevin aren’t such a  big deal afterall.

I approach the young diamond python that Kingston peed on at easter time .

It emerges from the guttering sunlight boldly accentuating the yellow and black markings, patiently on the hunt after a long winter nap it sets off  an avalanche of distress calls  in the mandarin tree.

well I guess they all have something else on their minds at the moment.

What about you angophora  elder tree?

creaking its old joints shedding  branches making way for the opening up of  more  apartments.

oh more development in the neighbourhood.

the clouds hovered with a promise of rain and the frogs have sang enough lately to make us believe

but not yet not yesterday but now

rain is spilling from the sky  loud drops crisp upon the roof

breezes bending trees

a pause in tempo followed by  a lull

dancing to a tune we cannot anticipate.

wherever I go they are all busy.

they are chittering and snoozing  scratching and preening

they are  foraging and building  nesting and loving.

.

buds are unfolding lilac and wisteria

seeds are shooting lettuce and rocket

roots are pushing deeper chasing moisture.

worms are composting  white ants are flying.

Elsies letterbox has been full of propaganda pamphlets

all  promising bigger better and stronger

hospitals schools roads economy.

more is what we are offered.

we need more as much as I need a bullet in my head right now.

better could be the forest allowed to do what it does best

manage  ongoing systems of life and growth  of oxygen and water.

better could be rivers that flow without sewerage and dioxins.

better could be teaching every child about the earth as home the universe as our address.

better could be the deepening of our love affair with the Mother

deepening our connection to spirit.

chief seattle said it and so have many others before and since

over and over and over again.

we are told that our vote will make a difference

don’t believe it .

it is a lie

your vote will do what it has always done, keep the big end of town in business the people enslaved and the earth being raped .

waving the green in my face again.

good wave it higher but do not rely on it to save our lives .

it may be that the ‘green’ will come to pass and the sacredness of existence will Be.

but in the meantime …

the day darkens and the wind picks up its voice

leaves fall in a flurry and rain drops patter lightly on the verandah.

the eastern spinebill  has flown away  and the water skink gliding along my window sill found no flies .

black snake  takes up residency on the rocks beside the pond

grey kangaroos mill around the lily dam

a growing mob safe on this side of the fence only.

.

I try one more time to gauge community attitude

kookaburras what say you?

sitting up like Jackie in a red gum they open their throats and chuckle

one flies down thrusts its beak into the hard dry ground and pulls up a tasty white  grub.

mmmmm they laugh again together.

an omen perhaps.

Bec rings and we snicker cackle hoot  and roar with laughter.

how preposterous we say

tony abbot what a joke!

kevin rudd you have got to be kidding!

it is obvious that the time is ripe for a grand sense of humour.

in the Forest it is business as usual

and amen to that.