Echidna

 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 

Philip Harvey,

 with assistance from Laila Chanzi and Bridie Harvey

Fitzroy Community School, circa 2008