‘Standing with Light’ by Michael Iwanoff.
1987, oil on canvas.
New Norcia Art Gallery, Western Australia.
Bent black trees.
A huddled settlement:
herd and children.
Black birth houses,
blood bridges,
death-blue water, drips of ancient snow.
Sheer cliffs — hundreds of feet.
Then light, dusting, manna-ing down
offering fake salvation
McDonald’s redemption —
and the shivering villagers, unguided, follow.