Burning Australia, 1945

I have this feeling of boats
burning like the oldest known coal fire
and as we end another bushfire
a grim reality
                ancient hunters molded by dried vegetables
                but that acrid set won't let us cope

my sisters triggered the burning of a body
and then the tickle of thunder haunted us like
    the atmosphere is a complete disc
    a burning montage of smoke

this hot yellow field is lonely
perhaps we have hats and roots
splitting up into sections of a body
only this is making up a history
it can be touching and lifting
we look up and only see more grim fire

                the moon here smells like a cherry bomb
                this is not layers spent over little time
                the violence in a church burns different

I quit spending time on layers
while Canada's ice floes were underground
                a seam of coal
                burning for 5,000 years

how can we sleep
                when Australia is burning