Of Drought and Fire – Two Natural Disasters in Australia – (ePUB Edition)

Poems of Fire, Loss, and Survival during Natural Disaster

A powerful Natural Disaster poetry collection capturing the human toll of drought and wildfire across regional Australia.

Of Drought and Fire brings together two evocative poetry sequences — Lagoon (2006) and A Koala in the Coalmine (2020). Written years apart and responding to distinct environmental crises, these collections examine slow devastation through drought and the ferocity of bushfire — each in its own time, place, and emotional register.

Lagoon bears witness to the drawn-out death of the last wetland near the Broken River in Shepparton, Victoria. A Koala in the Coalmine immerses us in the chaos and grief of the 2019–2020 bushfires that ravaged the east coast of Australia.

Seen together, these poems show how natural and human-made disasters intertwine — and how they’re experienced from the inside, in real time.

Frank Prem’s free verse distils complex events into intimate, accessible poetry — urging the reader to feel them as deeply as those who lived them.

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From the pages:

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Natural Disaster poetry with immediacy and heart

Of Drought and Fire is a poetic journal of place, memory, and emotion — drawn from conversations, news reports, and firsthand experience. One unfolds slowly (Lagoon). The other erupts with sudden force (A Koala in the Coalmine). But both speak to a country in crisis.

These are poems written hot — as events unfolded — bringing readers closer to disaster through the eyes of those who endured it.

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