Love from somewhere over the rainbow

A fire burns in me wanting you to see every colour I see

It’s never just one, it’s everything on the spectrum!

Overwhelming at times, I pour the energy into rhymes

Is it my anxiety? My OCD? I work with others like me.

We connect, create and have fun

Some are diagnosed “on the spectrum”

What does that even mean?

A spot on a scale of varying extreme?

To be a bit different or a bit “special”?

Is there a point on this band we all fall?

Or is it a straight line at all – a boring, fixed number plane

Give me a bending ark of colours that shine through the rain!

We call this phenomenon a spectrum too

The rainbow that brightens our sky of blue

It’s the greatest thing our eyes can see

It’s come to represent pride and diversity

Embraced by those called “friend of Dorothy”

The wide-eyed girl in her own fantasy - she is me.

The Merry ol Land of Oz is also where I live

MUCH inspiration does this Great Southern Land give

It truly is somewhere over the rainbow

In birds, trees and gems all colours show

Rainbow lorikeets fly kamikaze through the air

Like their namesake, after rain they’re everywhere

Against red desert earth and blue sky so bold

Flocks of budgerigars flash brilliant green and gold

Over the Snowy Mountains blanketed in glittering white

Velvety blue and red crimson rosellas stunningly take flight

There is so much vibrancy in Kosciuszko National Park;

Eucalyptus trees with technicolour swirled bark

These Aussie Snow Gums have long and elegant leaves

Crystal chandeliers when encased in icy sleeves

As much as I love birds and trees

Being a Jem, gemstones really please!

Our Opals capture every bright and brilliant hue

Glittering galaxies no stone compares to

Rainbow rocks, trees and flocks of many a coloured feather

Thrive in our Great Southern Land of extreme weather

From raging bush fires to floods of Biblical scale

It’s a place where the hardiest doth prevail

Home to the oldest continuous culture on Earth

People whose land has more than monetary worth

People who’ve not been treated as people in their own country

People whom invaders tried to completely erase from humanity

People of colour whose stories must be told

People whose land was stolen then sold

Land of the Rainbow Serpent and Rainbow Warrior too

The name given to Pemulwuy whom an invader fired a shot through

He was a resistance leader who stood up to injustice with might

His people hold wisdom we must seek to win the Climate Crisis fight!

The time has come to listen most sincere

To First Nation peoples – their message is clear:

We must stop pillaging and polluting our land and seas

We must be mindful of our impact and legacies.

The time has come to put people and the planet first

For the "money is God" bubble to burst!

We must revere the natural world and protect its luminosity

Stop the bleaching of our colourful reefs – it’s a tragedy!

Corals naturally grow reflecting every colour of the rainbow

Can you imagine nothing but chard, white skeletons for Nemo?

Our Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet,

Human-driven environmental disregard is damaging it

Time for scientific clarity:

Global warming is a reality.

Listen to Greta Thunberg - the girl described as “on the spectrum”

We are in a climate crisis and something must be done!!

I stand with her up there in Sweden from the Land Down Under

Somewhere brightly over the rainbow, can you hear that thunder?

Though we are on the other side of the world we don’t walk upside down

I always loved that theorising Alice did when through the rabbit hole she fell down

Perhaps the Merry ol Land of Oz IS her Wonderland!

Perhaps she popped up in Alice Springs – wouldn’t that be grand?!

Dorothy and Alice are colourful characters I’ve always related to

Girls whose stories were more than “who will I get married to?”

Whether following a yellow brick road or a white rabbit

They drove their own narrative – always a good habit!

They had courage, hope, kindness and curiosity

Subject of great stories, but removed from reality.

Here in Oz there is a true story of girls’ on a quest most intense

They followed not a road nor a rabbit – but a rabbit proof fence

They were young Aboriginal girls - Molly, Daisy and Gracie were their names

Forcibly removed from their families – one of Australia’s Government shames.

They escaped from the place they were taken in 1931,

Across vast distance, trekking themselves to liberation!

Over 1,600 kilometres (or 990 miles) did they walk alone

No ruby slippers to simply click and say: “there’s no place like home”.

But that’s something every kid (and adult) should be able to do;

Escape to fantasy land with a safe place to go home to.

In a world where nature is respected, not abused and neglected.

In a country where no nuclear bombs are ever tested.

It should be reality – not an idealised vision to romance

I think Bowie captured it in his music video ‘Let’s Dance’

Aboriginal youths in a society where greed rules

“Put on your red shoes and dance away the blues”

As much as I love Australia

With all our rainbow regalia

In many ways we are an embarrassing disgrace

We were far behind in the marriage equality race.

How could the land somewhere over the rainbow

Have taken so long and been SO slow?!

To move into technicolor I really had to implore:

Please vote yes so my sister and her partner can be united by law!

No matter how far and wide Aussies had to roam

We all still call Australia home.

That song is an anthem we've all made our own

Written by a true blue Aussie who's flamboyance was openly shown.

A man who loved men;

Never allowed to marry one of them.

Here’s to 'The Boy from Oz' or Peter Allen as he was named at birth

Lover of the country with the largest living structure on Earth

Unfortunately parts of this Great Barrier Reef once vivid and bright

After subject to bleaching; now a jagged graveyard of ghostly white

Like The Reef, our First Nation people have risked losing their colour

It was sickeningly hoped their “blackness” would be wiped out – genocide Down Under.

But the true custodians of this Great Southern Land survived

May all who are oppressed fight and have their true colours revived!

From nature to humanity we must let true colours shine through

We must fight to protect all life now, and for posterity too!

That’s the message I want to impart

With colours flying, it’s close to my heart.

Things this pun-loving 'Girl from Oz' wants you to know:

Have pride in diversity and nature - love from somewhere over the rainbow.