sanctuary
By Eunice Andrada
for the Murray-Darling Basin
clusters of cod float
on their sides, shaping a new absence
iridescence draining
from ancient scales under the sun
another year of drought manufactured
by the ministers who negotiated
for a piece of you
who used scientific jargon
to muddy the flow
between the rivers in our bodies
as water is hacked and divided
siphoned through
pore and pipeline
you who remember
how forgetful
we must be to keep machines
below the ground and expect
sanctuary in the heat
another town cracking open