Den and Pom at the bucket end of Pitt St, all debris,
where the song of the cicada is silent,
is washed away.
The magpie alights at the top branch of the highest tree
his assassin eyes laser territory
at three sixty degrees snap
steel trap state of the art weaponry
trees yesterday crusifixii bones loom stark in the mist
now thrust and bud in Spring,
budding and thrusting and bursting
sun kissed and caressed
the emperor's wild wattle shouts
rejoice and bear witness
we rise from the chilly tomb of
winter
reawakening we suck on our sun
and flex new limbs and wave
in the wind
the aroma of Daphne is angel breath pervading
the garden of Eden deep pink buds open
to small white sepals
such
a simple perfect beauty
The wind ripples the pond where the last duckling dives to hide
the fox snatched her brothers,
an eagle lifted her sister
and the snake struck at supper
for a Spring time feast.
Each morning Grandad walks up the hills and down into the valley.
There are lots of birds and animals and insects and trees and flowers and bushes.
There is a pond where the frogs like to croak to each other, and the ducks like to swim.
A fox sometimes comes to say hello to the ducks, before he tries to catch them and eat them.
Sometimes Grandad sees pretty parrots like the Blue Cheeked Rosella and the White Cheeked Rosella.
Look aren't they pretty? Why do you think they are called blue cheeked and white cheeked?
They fly in pairs like mummy and daddy. Or in a family like mummy and daddy and you.
They whistle to each other and look for seeds to eat. Can you hear them?
Sometimes Grandad sees a large black sad Raven bird calling Caw Caw. Why is the Raven sad? Perhaps it is hungry? Or perhaps it just likes to make a fuss and complain. Some people are like that aren't they? You're not like that, are you? Sometimes? I think sometimes we all are.
Sometimes he sees black and white hungry Magpies looking for meat, or insects, or worms. Do you like worms to eat?
And sometimes he sees a huge hungry eagle. The eagle is the King of Birds. It can carry away a baa lamb and eat it. It can't eat a Grandad unless he is dead. So Grandad keeps walking.
But it might fly down to look. See? The eagle says Grandad is too heavy to carry away.
Sometimes Grandad sees kangaroos eating grass or lying down. He makes a clicking noise with his tongue and says Hello Skippy. They stand and look at him. So would you.
Sometimes early in the morning he sees a fox coming home. Hello Mr Fox he says. Mr Fox has a foxy smile. He has a full tummy. Somewhere a little girl can't find a chicken called Henrietta Cluck or a wee fluffy bunny called Penelope Figgs. Never mind says her daddy, we'll buy another one. Yes.
Soon. Today.
Grandad and Nanna like to walk because exercise is good for us. It helps to keep you slim, not fat. Who do you know who is fat? Is she a little bit tubby or as wobbly as?
Would you say as wobbly as a jelly?
Grandad likes to drink beer. And wine. They make you fat.
Does your daddy drink beer and wine?
And your mummy? She likes wine does she?
At five o'clock in the afternoon Grandad opens his first beer. Yum he says.
Grandad likes a ciggie with his beer. He is a naughty boy. Ciggies are bad for you.
They can make you die.
Great Nanna has been smoking ciggies for 200 years. She is called the Human Chimney.
It's a building that smoke comes out of.
Good on you Great Nanna.
Too much wine makes you silly. Nanna likes wine. Yum she says.
When she comes home from work she has a glass of wine.
Grandad says have another one love, it's time to relax.
Grandad has a glass of wine after his beers. Naughty boy says Nanna.
Nanna makes a cup of tea before bed. Sometimes they skip the cup of tea.
Then Nanna likes to dance. Silly Nanna.
The end of the day
at the barbecue
wind thrashing and heaving
like some blind animal
trapped in a slaughterhouse
shaking sensibility
order dismissed
and words
rise and billow
in bubbles bursting, blasting
and bellowing from
the belly of a bellicose cow
words like anarchy
antipathy
udder and
shudder
Close the cover
contain them all
but
a singed word slips
out
letter tips smoking
and whirls away
polyglot it's not
couldn't read it
stretched as it was
to spider silk
and now the veal says
where's my mummy?
You are ...kidding....?
and
the steak says here,
mummy's here darling
I don't believe you...
and I heard that sausage
snigger.... hey you
what is this...??
and now the rissoles
raise a grizzle
aunty aunty...
Aunty's here darlings
says the t-bone
aunty didn't know you
in your new clothes
now don’t cry you're not to blame
it had to come to this
they feed us and fatten us,
they slaughter us
grind us and flatten us
one minute we graze
golden in green
agrarian bliss
and next we're
a hundred humongous
meal deal choices
or being flamed on a barby
by a fool like this
who imagines voices...
what goes around, comes around
in the words of we Buddhist
bovines
I was him
yesterday
as he shall be me
tomorrow
Blackbirds There is a lull this evening when the world holds its breath, the rain has stopped and the sun's warm rays embra...