Will resolve determine resolve empower
close at hand so early on the tractor?
Sure it will pour down soul ex machina.
Edgy to nip that bit of scrubby tucker,
precipice, ravine, wheels clinging
to the serrated edge of gully:
got to get it in. Not enough rain
to make it boggy, you’ll hurtle along.
O tractor, a whale eating the tinge
of plankton. O tractor, a whaler
traversing Pacific Island States,
seeding a barren ocean,
purchasing votes with aid.
The huge John Deere four-wheel drive
8770 tractor, 350 horse power
with duals front and back
towing a Flexi Coil 5000 Air Seeder,
lug-tyred, a whaler
chasing humpbacks, migratory
breakaways you can’t flatten
to kernels: home economics,
taste of science, ingesting
culture like convenience
stores scuppered as avarice,
keel-hauled in the red-wash.
Iron ore, steel-hulled vessels.
Roo culls. Beef. Lamb rack.
The islands flourish fleur-de-lis,
souls hoicked about like tectonic plates;
Crassus—health minister—gagging
on debate; Midas—immigration minister—
investing offshore marginal dirt,
yield withering away, vanishing,
mainland grain prices competitive.
Expect a tough season contemplating
answers—denying aid for votes.