BUSH poet Murray Hartin reckons you always know when you’ve written something good .
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“It just flows,” he says .
“Which is exactly how Rain From Nowhere came about; I wrote it on February 21, 2007 in about three hours, after hearing how bad things were in the bush from a stock and station agent mate of mine.”
The poem tells the story of a farmer who is just about down and out and who gets pushed over the edge when he takes some cattle to market and doesn’t get a bid.
With everything that has happened to him he believes he is not the man and farmer his grandfather and father were before him and he starts to plan his suicide.
But when he gets to the front gate there is a letter from his father, who had never written to him before but who had sensed something was wrong and wanted to let his son know he had experienced the same troubles and the future was not as dark as he might think.
Click play to watch Hartin recite the poem.
“I emailed it to a mate, he sent it on to a few mates and the thing went viral, all over the world,” Hartin says.
“It received a lot of play time on talkback radio as well.
“It’s been very humbling to have people come up to me and tell me that reading the poem was what saved their life.
“It’s about communication and that is what is important in suicide prevention today.”
Rain From Nowhere has been published in Hartin's book 'A Whole Lotta Muzza' and a CD, 'The Tater Slater Caper'.