The summer dust storms
shroud my mother
as she labours
with this
the end
of the sixth decade
pregnancy.
A year earlier
Maralinga rains
settled
on South Australian soil.
Now Strontium 90 is lifted
and dumped
as soiled westerlies
finger dust into every crevasse
of my parent's Hay home.
In the womb
I enter the atomic age.
About Tim Heffernan
Tim Heffernan made his literary debut in The Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser in 1985. His poetry has also been published online at OZpoet, The Poets Union, Thylazine, Cordite and Eureka Street. Tim’s work was selected for the 2007 South Coast Writers Centre (SCWC) anthology and in 2008 he was commissioned by the Wollongong Art Gallery to write poems in response to the works of surrealist artist Joan Meats. In 2009 his poems were exhibited as part of the Guerrilla Knitters installations during the Viva la Gong festival. In 2010 Tim has enjoyed performing his poetry at the SCWC’s Rocket Readings.
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