For ABC Sydney’s Urban Ballad competition, 2017 (winner!)
‘Develop it!’ cried Sullivan as, peering ’cross the land,
He beheld his vision splendid – his penury near ended –
A precinct large and grand.
‘We’ll build ourselves a precinct! A precinct big and bland!’
His hat askew, his whiskers wild, did Sullivan arrive
To seek out his Director of Development, collect her,
And escort her for a drive.
‘Come view the plot!’ said Sullivan. ‘It’s next to the M5!’
‘A Sydney opportunity! Six hundred high-rise homes
‘With views of road and aircraft, and filter stack, and air shaft –
‘And all in monochromes!
‘Plus, below-ground ‘tis a labyrinth: the car park catacombs!’
The Director did approve, and the Council came aboard
(It helped that people there had investments everywhere)
And Planning hollered: ‘Scored
‘Ourselves a bit of revenue!’ And e’er they did applaud.
With plans approved and brochures glossed, the buyers came to view
The computer-rendered images, engaging in small scrimmages
Before the scale model. Phew!
Behold the paving, pocket parks, a grove of faux-bamboo –
And coffee houses fancy, serving blend and shot and drip!
The youth they fiddle-faddle, eat their supper from a paddle
While their pocket-watches blip
And the passers-by do gaze upon their Oriental dip.
Now, some would ne’er have seen beyond the dirt and weeds and trucks;
For Sullivan, the vision of this vibrant subdivision
Made the motorway deluxe.
‘They’ll come, they will!’ cried Sullivan. ‘And we’ll charge them megabucks!’
And come they did, but went again; the venture made the news:
A contractor went under – some grievous fraud, or blunder –
The coin was there to lose.
And Sullivan was gone, with the money in his shoes.
‘Develop it!’ cries Sullivan as, riding the frontier,
He spots a toxic waste site, and proposes with some haste, quite
A thing: ‘We’ll build it here:
‘A residential quarter!’ (Precincts are so last year.) •