Outback Publican
© Catherine Lee
Winner, 2025 Blackened Billy Verse Competition.
We are out the back of nowhere, and we own this local pub,
but the task in hand is not just pulling beer.
There is isolation, many times with not a soul for miles,
so we hold a varied, changeable career.
All the blokes out here are raw and tough, their women staunch and strong
and intolerant of rudeness, idle cheek,
but to crack the surface, prove your worth with courtesy and sense
will reveal their value, truth of their mystique.
I’m a problem solver, fire responder, counsellor and cop.
I’ve delivered kids, brought someone back to life
armed with memories of CPR, first aid kit up to date,
and invaluable assistance from my wife,
bent a listening ear to wanderers from Tassie to the Cape
as they’ve poured their troubles out from near and far,
heard unlikely tales by characters intriguing and unique –
one who even rides his horse up to the bar!
We get weary truckies, station workers, swaggies passing through,
loads of wide-eyed tourists looking for Dundee.
Often Brahmin bulls meander up to nose around the yard,
sometimes peering through the windows soulfully.
I’ve got Namantjira paintings on the wall above the drinks,
and a coffin made from ancient railway track
to ensure discretion rules for unexpected circumstance
should a punter ever cark it out the back.
There are stockmen, hunters, miners, trappers, felons (I suspect),
several down-and-outers looking for a binge,
plus of course we’ve got some locals driving in from out beyond,
coming weekly for their customary whinge.
As they focus on the telly, watching sports and current news
there’s cacophony and sometimes nasty fights.
When they disagree on politics, all hell starts breaking loose,
adding bouncer to my resume those nights!
It’s demanding, tiring yakka at this country roadhouse inn,
and we meet all types on any given day.
But despite the fact most neighbours live some distance up the road
I just wouldn’t have it any other way.
There’s a welcome here, good food and booze, and life is never dull
with unceasing yarns to always entertain.
I believe that constant laughter is the medicine we need
as a therapy for sadness, grief or pain.
When I take some time alone to set my campsite in the bush,
my pragmatic mind will instantly expand
as I get a sense of history, of otherworldly realms
that I doubt the city blokes would understand.
Inexplicable and sobering, a vast, commanding force
like a presence that pervades my soul with awe.
It’s a depth of pure serenity I struggle to describe,
an apparent strength on which I’m prone to draw.
Though the landscape can seem desolate, and danger always lurks
if a stranger doesn’t know what he’s about,
there’s a rare, astounding beauty here that takes my breath away
and erases any shadow of a doubt
that I’m living out the dream I’ve had since I was just a kid
in this social, outdoor life for which I’m meant.
As I view the starry heavens, blazing sunsets, peaceful dawns,
I’m an enviable man - I am content.
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