earth is just warming up
and up
and up
first the equator
the tropics
qld
darwin boiled over
down to sydney
then south south
away from the heat
away from the fucking searing blasting boiling sun
no respite
gippsland in victoria fries
melbourne a cinder
over the sea
but no respite
we weep for hobart blackened treeless dry and burnt
now we australians
we who are left
and the south americans
among them several magic realists
some new zealanders
we are antarcticans
3rd generation
domedwellers
ice men
but ice melting even here
glaciers flowing
the great shelves crashing in green warmer water
the mountains are re exposed
birds nesting
goats let loose
in summer
the young people walk in the mountains
many go missing
what strange menace lurks there
we who thought this place previously uninhabited
let me tell you how wrong we were
they were there
under the ice
we have seen their cities
at first only ruins we thought
weve seen their lights under ice
and now the ice is melting
their cities deep in the thawing ice
as the mercury moves up the glass
like a snake slithering up a tree
oh yes there are antarctic snakes now
and wolves too
set loose from a menagerie
other beasts unidentifiable
boss that was a dragon said a thai man
could they have unleashed these
those in the under-ice city
nevermind
the long summer comes
warmer and warmer
coming in from all sides of the sky
warmer and warmer
bunyips have appeared in the lake
they have taken several divers
jim who has koori blood identified them
life appears where it has no where else to go
but even the monsters
even the ones underground in the ice
all of them
all of us
all of it
must
will
burn