POEM ~ Highway ~ 11 Jun 2019

Highway

Flying along the highway
maintaining steady speed
trees swoosh past
and other cars
racing by my steed

Driving into walls of rain
slows down just a tad
don't want to slide
or spin around
that'd be so bad

Oncoming truck and trailer
a menacing mobile mountain
rocks the car in passing
like an ocean wave
sprayed like a fountain

Windscreen wipers
swishing, swashing
sweeping through miles
music helps
time mindlessly passing

Stop at a roadside shop
ice coffee for the mind
must keep awake
must stay alert
the highway is not kind

On the road again
a car overtakes at speed
"petrol head" I mutter
stay within the limit
no need to push the steed

An accident ahead
slows down fast
flashing lights
crawls by
happy to get past

Back up to speed
appointment to meet
roadworks ahead
stalled at lights
waiting to proceed

Only slow drive is allowed
workers all around
upgrading the highway
wider than before
now slowly city bound

Away again at speed
and onto a country road 
past cattle and sheep
and long legged alpacas
grazing their paddock abode

At last the mountain seen
a brooding mother
where the city nestles
by a river to the sea
an aquatic father

Crosses the bridge
once knocked down
by a ship that veered away
one Sunday night
on it's steam to town

Into the madding traffic
into the car tower gritty
into a slow square spiral
into a parking bay
into a day in the city 

Jaqi 
Bluh

Tue

11
June
2019

NOTE ~ This poem sings of the drive from our country town, called Ross, along ther highway, into the city of Hobart, where Mt Wellington broods above the town like a possessive mother, and the River Derwent is a great harbour by the ocean. The Tasman Bridge was knocked down by a ship in 1975, which is still down there, with the bridge rebuilt over it.

Decades on from the Tasman Bridge disaster, the memory of the tragedy still haunts the state
Phoebe Hosier, 5 January 2018, ABC News Online

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-05/memory-of-tasman-bridge-collapse-lingers/10684234
"It's 44 years today since the Tasman Bridge disaster, but the memory of the traumatic event still lingers in the minds of many Tasmanians, who say they're fearful or anxious when crossing the bridge. It was in 1975 when the ore carrier Lake Illawarra struck the bridge, taking out two pylons and 127 metres and three spans of the bridge. Five motorists and seven crew members died. What caused the Lake Illawara to go off course is unknown, but historians have said strong river currents and inattention on board could have contributed.” ~ 

JAQI ~ I was living in Howrah when the bridge fell, 3 miles south, and we heard the noise. The next morning I paddled out onto the river in my canoe to see the gap in the bridge. Ferries on the river made a revival, while the Tasman Bridge was being repaired.

Tasman Bridge Collapse 40th anniversary newstories ~ FILM ~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_t6ReVkWmg

Song from the time ~ Ferryboat Shuffle ~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmzpuBH-Jis

Tasman Bridge disaster turned to opportunity for Bob Clifford and his boats ~
https://www.news.com.au/national/tasmania/tasman-bridge-disaster-turned-to-opportunity-for-bob-clifford-and-his-boats/news-story/d7e3e5330f832e2fbdea0f7fc0f8e66c

Hobart Floating Bridge, 1963 ~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg0NHLek74c

Tasman Bridge Reconstruction (1978) ~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJZIN2xRN2s

Memories of the old Hobart Floating Bridge ~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M22But7VeAg