In my wild erratic fancy
Visions come to me of Clancy:
Out of reach of mobile coverage
Where the Western rivers flow.
In his day job, Professor Joe Wolfe works in the Physics department at the University of New South Wales, leading research on the physics of music and speech, and cellular biophysics. So perhaps it’s not surprising that he enjoys dabbling with writing poetry in his spare time.
His homage (with apologies) to Banjo Patterson’s iconic bush poem, Clancy of the Overflow, is an amusing take on the juxtaposition between traditional rural life and modern electronic technology. Enjoy.
You can hear an interview with Professor Wolfe on ABC radio’s rural program by clicking here.
I had written him a text
Which I’d sent, hoping the next
Time he came in mobile coverage
He’d have time to say hello.
But I’d heard he’d lost his iPhone,
So I emailed him from my phone,
Just addressed, on spec, as follows:
clancy@theoverflow
And the answer – redirected –
Wasn’t quite what I’d expected
And it wasn’t from the shearing mate
Who’d answered once before.
His ISP provider wrote it
And verbatim I will quote it:
‘This account has been suspended:
You won’t hear from him no more.’
In my wild erratic fancy
Visions come to me of Clancy:
Out of reach of mobile coverage
Where the Western rivers flow.
Instead of tapping on the small screen,
He’d be camping by the tall green
River gums – a pleasure
That the town folk never know.
Well, the bush has friends to meet him
But the rest of us can’t greet him:
Out there, even Telstra’s network
Doesn’t give you any bars.
He can’t blog the vision splendid
Of the sunlit plains extended
Or tweet the wondrous glory
Of the everlasting stars.
I am sitting at the keyboard
And I’m too stressed out to be bored
As I answer all the emails
By the deadlines they contain
While my screen fills with promotions
For ‘V1aggra’ and strange potions
And announcements of the million-dollar
Prizes I can claim.
But the looming deadlines haunt me
And their harrying senders taunt me
That they need response this evening
For tomorrow is too late!
But their texts, too quickly ended,
Often can’t be comprehended
For their writers have no time to think –
They have no time to wait.
And I sometimes rather fancy
That I’d like to trade with Clancy:
Just set up an email bouncer
Saying ‘Sorry, had to go.’
While he faced in an inbox jamming
Up with deadlines and with spamming
As he signed off every message:
clancy@theoverflow
Joe Wolfe, with apologies to Banjo Patterson
Professor Wolfe’s poetry on the UNSW physics department website
