It was Zorba, the song that started us,
back there at our family’s in Carlton –
one foot forward and across, arms and shoulders linked.
Everyone could do it – all ages stepping out:
children with adults, those guys who said
they couldn’t dance – whole lines weaving
to the same steps, a homage to Theodorakis,
recently imprisoned for his music.
Songs that could sing on their own
with enough bouzoukis to quicken a city.
Killi Koala
Killi Koala
sleeps most of the day
on his mother’s back
as she scampers away
up and down eucalypts
the whole night through
finding special leaves
for them both to chew
© Katherine Gallagher
Red Admiral
In mid-January a Red Admiral butterfly
flew in front of the Lygon Street bus,
past crowds of summer shoppers
and the searing sun.
Dust was rising, mixed with smoke.
I wondered what would happen to the butterfly
as it flapped and flapped around curves of air.
Butterflies are not confident
in the way a bus is confident,
and Lygon Street was no place for a Red Admiral –
all that summer traffic and not a stinging nettle in sight.
At the Dinosaur Picnic
Dandy dinosaurs dancing
Dreamy dinosaurs drinking
Dexterous dinosaurs dinking
Dainty dinosaurs dazzling
Devilish dinosaurs diving
Dozy dinosaurs dallying
Delicate dinosaurs dawdling
Book spell or how books keep me happy during the holidays
My room is always lined with books
full of adventures, animals and strange characters.
Books, they’re my friends, hiding in nooks,
giving me surprises
Before I know it, I’m caught just fine,
in the mysteries of a book.
I don’t know why I’ve got feet
when I could have had wheels,
for wheels go so much faster.
Imagine me flying down our street
not in my trainers or boots
but on wheels, with my ghetto-blaster.
Imagine people turning to stare
and all telling me to slow down
before I caused a disaster.
Imagine me gliding off into space
with a quick little nod to the Moon,
then simply going straight past her. . .
© Katherine Gallagher
(Published in Through a Window, Longman, 1995)
The blood of her song
is a litany against war
It throbs against the air
echoes remembrance
The sky doesn’t break
as her voice wavers
The world craves her song
of forgiveness and hope
She sings for those who died in war
and a crowd gathers silently
offering homage to soldiers
Anzacs and those who have borne
their love and innocence,
always reminding.
Humpty Dumpty
jumped in the sea.
Humpty Dumpty
sank instantly.
All the young mermaids
and their mermen
couldn’t get Humpty
to surface again.
© Katherine Gallagher,
blazing wattle –
the splendour
of yellow
a ladybird
on the mock-orange
finds the sun
in the distance
the stillness
of trees leafing
