Koala Caught and Versified
…like a runaway kid
eager to avoid the prying eyes
of strangers in places odd
eager to avoid the prying eyes
of strangers in places odd
unsure, hesitant,
terrified
of an adult world,
sits the Koala, a lost child of some Other mother. Softly
of an adult world,
sits the Koala, a lost child of some Other mother. Softly
snuggling against the
trunk of
the weather-beaten tree---the only
familiar site in a bizarre land---the furry friend
solitary-figure, hunched, spotted
on the golf course, Lismore, NSW
on that commonplace morning
the weather-beaten tree---the only
familiar site in a bizarre land---the furry friend
solitary-figure, hunched, spotted
on the golf course, Lismore, NSW
on that commonplace morning
The indigenous Tharawal people of Australia believed that the koala helped row the boat that brought them to the continent.In another dreamtime myth, a tribe killed a koala and used its long intestines to create a bridge for people from other parts of the world. Bidjara-speaking people credited the animal with turning barren lands into lush forests.
ReplyDeleteOutside World
ReplyDeleteThere's a wind on the eastern side
Ghost gums dance in the moonlit night
Mopoke mourns the racketeers
The bosses they can sense your mood
All in place to a hand that rules
They all want to deal you out
I can see the outside world
Everything's inviting in the outside world
Leaving all my problems in the outside world
It's the summer of another year
A little world weary a little more to fear
Hold those cards tight to your chest
Maybe someday you could be a man
Living quietly in a caravan
Not the Lismore road tonight
-- James Moginie/Martin Rotsey/Peter Garrett/Peter Gifford/Robert Hirst [of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil]
[A mopoke is an Auistralian bird]
Lismore is a town in northeastern New South Wales in the area of the Bundjalung people. It was probably originally called Tuckurimbah ("glutton") but was renamed after Lismore, one of the Hebrides islands, by Scottish immigrants in 1845. It was once part of the "Big Scrub," the largest subtropical lowland rain forest in eastern Australia, but more than 99% of it has been cleared for settlement.