The Grantwriter and the Drought: a poem

BY LOUISE ROBINSON

The shining blue serpent that had once split the town

Meandered less, muddy and brown

The rain hadn’t come, there was work to be done

And the feed remained in the ground.

The load it was heavy, no risk to the levee

A dry and dusty ordeal

But it only takes one to get off their bum

And to hold a whole-township appeal.

It’s often been said that those thoughts in your head

Are what separate average from great

To eloquently tell of proud farmers in plight

Needs a writer’s vocabular state

To paint pictures so bright that the office but might

Give a yes to the great opportunity

It takes the skill of a poet to feel it, to show it

The heartbeat of any community.

About Louise

Louise Robinson is the general manager of Many Rivers Regional Housing, an Aboriginal corporation that manages tenancies and properties from its base in Kempsey, New South Wales. A former CEO of the Nambucca Heads Local Aboriginal Land Council, she has also had 15 years of experience in a grant-writing role for a Bowraville not-for-profit.

Louise used to be a beef cattle farmer, and remembers taking bucket baths and checking the level in the water tank.

She now lives in town on the mid north coast of New South Wales, and has donated her payment for this poem to the charity Drought Angels.