•••
Oceanic
SEAN ORR
They travel in packs of beige and slate
Long coats, black umbrellas, suede bags
Looking for lunch
In them, is a sense of geology
Hardened stone
Pressed for time. Everything ironed out.
They work in andesitic columns.
Think huge lobbies with intricate moulding
Possibly an Art Deco mural, or Futurist perhaps
For them, it’s all stratified and coded.
Ancient coal seams. For peat’s sake.
And now we’re trading bitumen.
Float planes to the north
Never thought mining would pay off
Now the detritus piles up like scree
Spreading thin and red across the north
Like an alluvial fan.
Making deposits.
Thin lips and strips of yellow paper
Blueprints for a better tomorrow
Green and sustainable
Their eyes light up like gas lamps
Prospectors of the outer limits of growth
Pushing on. Ever forward.
A new place for energy
A new energy for this place