Outback [poem by Rex Ingamells, 1938]

[Editor: This poem by Rex Ingamells was published in the Jindyworobak Anthology, 1938.]

Rex Ingamells

Outback

All the unhallowed beauty I have found;
All free-discordant shrills
and form-defying wonders above ground,
like writhen trees with draggled foliage
struggling along the courses of wayback creeks;
scarlet-and-green
sky-streaking parrot-fires with parrot-shrieks
echo-shattering the shoulders of the hills;
and desert-sunset-rage:
Rage for my mind, be clamant, do not cease;
you are my holiest habitat of peace.

Source:
Rex Ingamells (editor), Jindyworobak Anthology, 1938, Adelaide: F. W. Preece, [1938], p. 28

Editor’s notes:
clamant = compelling, pressing, urgent; crying out for attention, urgently demanding attention; clamorous, noisy

writhen = (past participle of “writhe”) twisted, contorted, distorted (also spelt as “wrythen”); may also refer to spirally twisted decorations (usually being antique glass or silver items, or a section thereof)