Tree Music

Under a tree, a soundless

bond begins with stirring

leaf drops. They settle

high up in twiggy growth

with magpie song, a slow

parsing of peace, sheltered,

quiet.

 

Copyrighted by the author

 

Winged

Winged, a creature crosses

the window lifting its weight

in purposeful flight gliding

into our anthropocene.

A bat of sorts, some primeval

shape almost touching

the glass to see another

 

Copyrighted by the author

Melaleuca

Day ends with a tree

of lorikeets blooming

like a melaleuca

coloured greener

than green. Moon

hides in a bottle-brush

spike waiting patiently

for the palette of night

 

Copyrighted by the author

Tufts

Sprigs of a season;

tufts of grass sense

a hint of autumn

behind the veneer

and gloss of an endless

summer polished

like a mirage

 

Copyrighted by the author

 

Sundew

Rain storms over pockets of land

Lake George grows grass and lambs

bob like blobs of cotton lined up

against the sky. From out the dark

little drosera. Here they shine

drinking sun

Sunblaze

Undone, riverfish float dead

coral crumbles out of colour

and city creatures hide from

sunblaze underleaf. This little

patch grasps the cool breath

of a southerly bringing life,

for a day or two

 

Copyrighted by the author

 

 

 

Night Chorale

First the orchestra tunes up

low echoes bouncing off bush

burn cooling the humid air

by filling the gaps of space

where silence lives. Here

cicadas pitch below ground

and crickets tiptoe, forking

sound whispers like snails.

Only later does the chorus

syncopate, fruit bats

yabbering into night