Fire in the Bush 13X30 Pastel and pencil on paper
This work reflects a satellite image of the catastrophic bush fires in Australia in 2020. Text on the work includes lines from the Australian poet Peter Porter about the early death of his wife and her cremation - The fire will come out of the sun and I shall look in the heart of it.
Infrared Satellite Image of Australia fires - Australia Daily Mail
Non Piangere, Liù
Peter Porter
A card comes to tell you
you should report
to have your eyes tested.
But your eyes melted in the fire
and the only tears, which soon dried,
fell in the chapel.
Other things still come--
invoices, subscription renewals,
shiny plastic cards promising credit--
not much for a life spent
in the service of reality.
You need answer none of them.
Nor my asking you for one drop
of succour in my own hell.
Do not cry, I tell myself,
the whole thing is a comedy
and comedies end happily.
The fire will come out of the sun
and I shall look in the heart of it.