ROB MCKINNON

The Tropical Island

High tide laps at the second doorway step
of the new shack made of the left-over iron and wood
salvaged from the old sunken village,
only three steps more and it will be flooded again.

Crammed between trees on higher ground
the homes are connected by worn out car tyres
filled with concrete to form paths
that often become covered as the flow rises each day.

Children play in the mud nearby
water surges bring sewage and garbage,
sores and boils on their skin spread
without ever healing.

Parents fish and forage further out in the ocean
as food becomes scarce closer to shore
while someone else’s plastic covers the beaches
and tropical cyclones become bigger.

Seas rising
with the climate warming
from actions of others far way.

Rob McKinnon lives in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. His poetry has been published in Meanjin Quarterly, Backstory Journal (Swinburne University), The Saltbush Review (Adelaide University), Wales Haiku Journal and other online and print journals. He has also been nominated for the Touchstone Individual Poem Award.