Fantasy pet
She’s a baby T-Rex and she comes from the past
when the dinosaurs wandered the land.
Having dodged certain death from a meteor blast,
she now squats in the palm of my hand
Unaware she’s the luckiest creature alive,
she cavorts round the yard like a pup.
In my dreams, she continues to grow and to thrive.
In my nightmares, she gobbles me up.
Dark Emu
A negative space
of no stars
surrounded by the Milky Way
There is a story that goes with it
but I cannot tell it you
It belongs to another
It is negative space, too
a story-space but
I have nothing to fill it
A Way of Seeing
The weight of mountains
is an effortless thing
It is not measured
like the cry of an eagle
reaching
It is a silence that floats
This a becoming
within sky ‘s dimension
where the eye shifts
carries it
Katherine Gallagher
(from The Eye’s Circle, Rigmarole)
Acacia equisetifolia
Critically endangered – Northern Territory
I am a lonely little wattle shrub
my family name is Fabaceae (fab-AY-see-ee)
by various strange and wonderful ways I’m related to the pea.
Peas are plentiful
but my fellow family members dwindle by the day.
Acacia equisetifolia is critically endangered; so the scientists say
I’d really love to have a chat
calling out across the sandy ground, “Is anybody there?”
then hoping for an answer to float on through the humid air.
If anyone in the big wide world would like to visit me
this is where I’ll be,
Graveside Gorge
Kakadu National Park
in the Northern Territory.
I’ll put my yellow pom-pom blooms on show,
they’re a little like dandelion clocks you know.
You’ll find me in a woodland glade
of woollybutt and bloodwood trees;
they’re shady, kind and friendly
but far too big to be my family.
My seed pods need a fire to burst them into life,
a little one will do.
It rained a lot last night and I am so surprised to see,
where last season I popped a pod or two
a teeny tiny green shoot – a sprouting Mini-me.
Photo credit to Kym Brennan of the Lucid Acacia Project
Message in a bottle
A message in a bottle,
Washed up by the sea,
Written by a mermaid,
Especially for me.
“I hope you’ll come and see me,”
That is what she wrote,
In beautiful handwriting
Upon her watery note.
“You’ll find me in the ocean,
“It’s really very clear:
“Latitude 15,
“And longitude just near.”
Message in a Bottle
A bottle washed up on the shore,
In front of me and there I saw,
A written message held therein,
And from my hair I took pin.
The bottle opened using strength,
Hairpin having sufficient length,
Slowly I pulled out the paper,
Intending to read it a little later.
I took it home to show my mother,
My father, sister and my brother.
Unfurled the paper and read aloud,
The words presented bold and proud.
“I’ve written this note just to see,
If someone finds it and rings me.
My number’s written at the end,
This invitation I extend.
I’m hoping to receive a call,
That would be phenomenal.”
One morning, on my balcony,
I missed the sight I mostly see:
The distant sea, seen normally,
Had disappeared quite totally!
As well, mist shrouded every tree
Except the tree most close to me.
It blossomed bright, defiantly.
That single tree encouraged me.
Just like that tree I want to be:
Not daunted by adversity.
Most mists are only temporary.
If not, then faith must carry me.
Australian Children’s Poetry 