Lines off South Crescent

(Reposted after not winning the Venie Holmgren Environmental Poetry Award…maybe next year!)¹

Snack time in the bush
on a path untaken—
barely a path.

Cairns mark the way—or one way—
up a spine,
defacing Country.

Gweela guards
and tends his mound,
neck pouch swaying.

Pre-industrial grass trees
skirt rusty chassis,
boulders.

Wind cantilates
the angophora canopy,
effacing human sound.

I walk in wonder,
scoffing my muesli bar,
glad I stepped in.

1. Many thanks to Jessica Perini, Beck Wolski and Elly Belfort for their constant encouragement and thoughtful reading. ↩︎