The End is Here

walk on floors of sand and shit hair a-wave

oil slick seaweed sewn to our heads Ahead

a black depth

nightmares and children’s fears writhing in its edge He turns to me so proud

so cocky

his skin is scale

his fingers fish his eyes are pearls wrapped in seaweed drifting forth from lidless lips and his teeth are charms of bone with Her name on each “How fare your breath? so far below? is this any place for a man such as you?” He stands there grotesque in his nature For it’s all he’ll be can be He stands and stagnates skin peeling flesh floating leaving nothing just the seaborne scarecrow of a man a person behind I fall, unbidden, into that black depth. I cannot breathe. Cannot see. Cannot hear. Nothing but the pounding of a boat above its engine thrumming to that familiar tune “Ba-bum. Ba-bum. Ba-bum. Ba-bum.” When the shower runs dry and I unfold a skinny skeleton of pale paper stretching over paddle-pop bones

Golf also has a myriad of other problems – besides the infamous elitism and exclusivity. He circles away down the drain Golf courses take massive amounts of water to ever laughing maintain – courses are on average 150 acres, and at the average frequency of being watered a few times a week, even more so in arid climates common in Australia, where water consumption could be up to six times more. A US geological survey estimated that golf courses use 0.5 percent of all the water used in the US each year. As Moeller wrote in 2013, watering a gold course that much isn’t even necessary to have a playable course, it’s only done to maintain the lush green colour which people think makes the course more aesthetically appealing, not affecting the game in any way. Pesticides are also used which seep into the local water table harming local wildlife (and also eventually finding their way into your household taps). Compounded with the amount of land courses use – water use becomes an even bigger problem. It is estimated that there are around 32,000 golf courses around the world – estimated to be covering a land area the size of Belgium. Why do golf courses in Australia neglect to plant native trees? The answer to this could lie in Australia’s colonial past. European attitudes to Australia’s natural environment have always been less than positive. As Robert Hughes wrote in The Fatal Shore, a famous book about the history of the first years of colonial settlement, when the first convicts looked upon the land they described as a “thin scraggly landscape,” “monotonouslooking at first sight,” with Eucalyptus trees as “very strange, with smooth wrinkling joints like armpits, elbows, or crotches.” They didn’t have many positive things to say. Hughes further wrote that comparing the landscape with an English park was common with First Fleet diarists. “Partly, it came from their habit of resorting to familiar European stereotypes to deal with the unfamiliar appearance of things Australian; thus it took at least two decades for colonial watercolourists to get the gum trees right, so they did not look like English oaks or elms.” When confronted with strange new places it is normal to cling to what is familiar as it reminds you of home. Migrants to new lands bring along food, culture, and customs, and the first European colonisers were no different, bringing their architecture, food, animals, trees, and way of life. These features were reflected in the early colonies – lots and lots of sheep, Georgian architecture being heavily reflected in most government buildings today, and of course rabbits that later decimated the local ecosystems. Golf courses could be the same – a small little his smile stitched to a fish’s head artificial island of European scenery that reminds I drowned people of a home that once was. he didn’t.Who can understand the irony of a sport He couldn’t that creates large green spaces with a negative I chose to. environmental footprint? How can we improve My heart now lies golf?

in the embrace of some sea-borne abyss My head now follows gingerly stepping into cold ocean tides to walk those drowning steps and stand before the scarecrow of indecision the brink of choice For when heart beats it is true The good news is that golf is in fact very easy to make sustainable, but you have to convince the consumer to change their perspective. And that, is no easy task. As long as people want their artificial “nature-themed amusement parks” as Abbie Richards puts it, we will never have change. We need to start living with the land, not against it. Golf courses are very expensive to maintain – costing more than a million a year on average. Planting flora native to the local environment will save costs, as less water and maintenance will be required, and especially pesticides. Instead of imposing European nature on bushland, we could also consult the people who have been living in harmony with the land for thousands of years: the diverse range of First Nations peoples. Fire-stick farming has already proven to be an effective way to control the land, and their expertise could not only help create more harmonious courses but also more jobs and employment. Cheaper maintenance costs can also be passed down to the consumer in membership fees. This could potentially help alleviate golf’s current image as an unaffordable, elitist sport.

like fish swimming across you And when head thinks it is true like stepping from a shower all wrapped in conviction But If you are looking to play golf more sustainably, perhaps play at a course that is when both agree part of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program. Membership is based on factors such as it is Realenvironmental initiatives, recycled water use, and wildlife preservation among others. Alternatively, no edge nor brink look for local courses that aren’t a long drive away and have an environmental plan. There are just an endless sea many courses around Australia that are doing their part to become sustainable. Golf is currently green and deep and beautiful problematic, but it doesn’t have to be. As CSIRO has stated, Australia’s native wildlife is in the a love of salt and water “grip of an unprecedented alien attack,” and without His bubbling cackle. much of the country’s unique flora and fauna is in danger of disappearing by 2050 unless urgent action is taken.