Tribe Animal No. 4
asleep
half the day
where
a tree says why,
awake
it asks what on earth
am
I going to do next?
where
is the alarm bell on my body clock?
how
snug is my cosy coat?
compact
as a football
and
just as well
falling
without warning from a great height
into
a mattress of grass,
the koala
Fitzroy Community School, circa
2008
Tribe Animal No. 3
hands
small enough to hold a droplet
big
enough feet to pound the ground
miles
away from water
where
people march carefully,
it
arches across the beautiful grasslands
faster
than a speeding bullet,
rests
on its side where water bends,
eyes
softer than river stones
easy
after zigzag heat of mirages,
strong
where it starts up again,
the kangaroo
Fitzroy Community School, circa
2008
Tribe Animal No. 2
tortoise-shell
wood
an
ambling stack of chopsticks
pointing
aloft at the soft clouds,
an anti-ant,
tickly nose longs
for
queues of food in the quiet of ferns,
it
never leaves a trail,
but
at first sound of voices
crunch
of leaves from the road
it
rolls into a ball into the earth,
incredible,
invisible,
the echidna
Fitzroy Community School, circa
2008
Tribe Animal No. 1
watching
whatever warily
in
the green sometimes desert
where
streams have curled up
it
goes a-wooooooo a-wooooooo,
walking
up the stairs of a mountain,
two
browny eyes
big
pointy ears
short
red fur on top of short yellow fur
hard
teeth underneath,
some
grown-ups own one not many,
the dingo
Fitzroy Community School, circa
2008
