I remember us,

getting about the

Coast, sitting

together in

matching motor-

cycle boots a

size too big,

their woollen linings

compacted, discussing

philosophy, music

and the rest,

telling you I wanted

to be in Lennon’s

greater movie,

on a beautifully

wooded hill where

the magic mushrooms

grew for a while

above the dam,

chatting about colonial

genocide and a landscape

which must have been

considered country

well worth it all

in those pitiless days.

Dr David Faber is an Australian labour historian and published poet who majored at Somerset Primary School in pirates, wild colonial boys, British monarchy and imperialism. He began writing poetry at Burnie High School. He emigrated to Adelaide in 1977, fell under the spell of a Milanese admirer of Machiavelli, and moved with her to Italy in 1985, where he was a local official of the Partito Comunista Italiano. He now lives in Adelaide again, and visits Tasmanian family, friends, colleagues, libraries and archives annually. His next project is a co-authored life of Depression era Premier Albert Ogilvie.