Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd lives and writes in Adelaide. He produces Poetica each week on ABC Radio National. Mike’s most recent book is Karrawirra Parri: Walking the Torrens from Source to Sea published by Wakefield Press in 2012.
Gasoline Flowers
Mohamed Bouazizi,
wanting living space
and a little justice,
became an orange-yellow orchid
Tich Quang Duc,
a wavering lotus of flame
Palden Choetso – a smoky iris,
deadly bright at its centre.
For his land of snow
and a spinning prayer,
Tsering Tashi was a gaping petro hibiscus.