A politician from New South Wales,
launched a boat-trip chasing bubble trails,
In the blink of an eye,
Set the river on fire,
Methane blazed a melting gunwhale.
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Story version 2
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A Green party chap from Down Under,
Took a boat trip to view fracking blunders,
Lighted a river on fire,
raised his camera eye higher,
His boat melted in the methane wonder.
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Postscript
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They say it’s mere coincidence
Fracking fissures not the cause
Fire on water
A normal event,
Methane burns hot under natural laws.
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This story broke several days ago: it’s about an Australian politician who demonstrated that the Condamine River is bubbling methane. I believe, as he does, that methane bubbles are escaping from seams opened up by nearby fracking. A Guardian article lays out the controversy. To find out more about the side effects of fracking for natural gas you might be interested in this David Suzuki Foundation article.
Below is a video posted by Jeremy Buckingham, the politician who set the Condamine River on fire with a barbecue lighter.
In the two story limericks I have used The Secretkeeper Writing Prompt #34 words: Trip; Fire; River; Eye; Melt. Please note that the detail about the boat melting was inspired by the prompt rather than reported fact.
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Ontheland 
Absolutely shocking and thank you for highlighting this incident. I wonder how long the fire burnt for? If the boat hadn’t been metal perhaps it would have burnt!
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Yes it is disturbing. In the States people have reported being able to light water coming out of their taps.
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I saw this story originally from the Guardian headline saying the CSIRO had debunked it. Thanks for the reminder- I had meant to go back and read more. How perfectly did the prompt words fit your post?
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I know the prompt words fit the story so well that I thought maybe JK had read it before she came up with the words 🙂
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Yes, maybe…
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I’ve heard of the effects, but seeing that video–wow! I don’t think he expected it to ignite so quickly.
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Great poem Janice. Wonderful to see you onto our environmental issues. Yes fracking is being fought by grassroots groups and the GREENS political party here. We have a LOCK THE GATE movement where farmers lock their gates against these, (usually multi national) enemies of our environment. And groups turn up to ensure the gates stay locked.
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Well Mr. Buckingham’s efforts reached me via Twitter..I think the story went global as fracking is being pushed and fought over everywhere. There is something about fire and water that is attention catching and flags the message of contamination and harm to air, earth, water , and global atmosphere. It seems that there is much strong environmental activism in Australia!
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I meant to add we have a chant to go with the lock out, “Can’t eat coal, can’t drink gas” because fracking is usually planned for ideal food production farmland.
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wow what story. You’re limericks are awesome. They captured all sides of the story.
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Thanks Melinda 🙂 it was fun trying to write limericks…something I ‘ve been wanting to do. Five lines isn’t much but I liked the containment.
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You’re welcome 🙂 limericks are not easy to write but yours make the form seem easy. So much so that I may have to give them another chance.
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You’re right–not as easy as they seem. I think modern writers don’t necessarily rhyme them but I wanted to try traditional first. I’ll keep an eye out for limericks from you 🙂
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It might be awhile before I get to try a limerick may is shaping up to be a busy month
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Standing by 😉 but seriously, you probably don’t plan something like that …It’ll pop out when the mood hits…spring is a busy time!
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Very true. Other than the a to z and NaNoPoMo, I don’t plan poems except the ones included in my prose pieces–those are planned so I can illustrate them 🙂
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You introduced an very relevant topic in your poems. It’s good to see the fight across the world. Us ‘little people’ have much common sense and we are horrfied by the prospect of fracking. But we’re being ignored even by our governments. Have they gone mad?
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It seems that to some extent we are caught on a treadmill — scrambling for the last pockets of resources rather than
having the courage to focus on new ways of harnessing energy and putting a stop to destruction.
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I agree with you absolutely. How I wish they would redirect their financial resources to new mechanisms.
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