Waterfall Road Reprise

Hip hop, signs stop,
so untrammelled, local family
stash spot, waterfall fenced off,
granite outcrop, polished drop,
sluiced stain through grazing
paddocks, ah, the water runs off,
the torrents, white-water
blindness, mountain collective,
flooded gums and dryandra bush,
soil-type variable and roadside
vegetation intensely local,
rough-as-guts gravel
to keep the wanderers out,
birds with hyperaesthesia,
toting morbidity where
rain gauges are upended
by aggressive sons;
to have lived nearby
for years and never
to have ventured
out that way—the signs
turning you back,
school buses and electricity
workers steering clear—
as we might imagine it,
when the evening breeze
cools their hot tempers
on wrap-around verandahs,
slightly warm beers
in their hands.