Original Poem by Susan Woodhead
…a vignette of the devastating Brisbane floods of 1974…

Still and silent stealth,
Backed up and spreading
Insidiously infiltrating timber homes down the back -
The creek was a creek no more,
1974.

The neighbour’s cloistered emu
Manic panic!
Floated over the fence,
While he flailed about rescuing his dogs
From drowning’s dark death.

Hour by hour
My father donned his slicker, galoshes
Disappeared into the frogs’ chaotic refrain
Torch-light in slanting rain,
Counting how many fence-posts remained.

The piano had long ago fled
Desperately trundled to higher ground,
‘Four by Twos’ raised the bed legs,
Gathered possessions, Gathered around
The radio for news.

Our house was spared,
I didn’t know water could be brown,
The garage walls - I counted the rings down;
Standing on brick piers, barely a foot
To breach the floor.

Days later, dazed
The emu was retrieved,
Subsiding waters and muddied eaves
Beverley’s place could not be saved,
Australia Day.