Isolation

 [Isolation]

 never before

black cockatoos in our tree

yellow-tailed black cockatoos

 

thinks by the time

I get the camera

they’ll have flown away

 

three of them

the usual racket

I almost fell over

 

Cloudland 13^th of May 2020

Copious Notes: Found this short haiku-like poem today in a file. History tells us that Victoria’s initial state of emergency notice on 16^th March 2020 was extended on 12^th April and again on 11^th of May, constituting the First Lockdown. Cloudland is a name we sometimes use at home for Macleod, the secluded suburb where we reside in the NE of Melbourne. The image is a recent illumination of street badging in the Richmond area, a large suburb in the inner east of Melbourne.   

Cockatoo

Their quiff speaks its mind

No thought undisplayed

Quite curved back utterly unafraid

Where day is a stroll in the trees.

Splayed about a show of cards

Questioning fortune’s turns

Mimicking the sun’s rays like flowers.

Summer cloud their breasts and clean tails,

Food scan then clear drop to clean decking

The noisiest houseguests don’t overstay.

It’s their dinosaur march bigtime pecking orders

Seedtime and see you later screech space,

If it’s music it’s all their own.

We need only to be here to see them

Cockatoo (April)

Wye River always enjoys his lemon quiff, his broad shoulders, commanding look. He’s come down from his height to clean up the grain offerings. He sharpens his beak on a railing, tugs a wet suit drying there. Pure white feathers, unmistakeable sharp screech. He resumes his repast of post-fire goodness, corn, scattered sunflower seeds. His proprietorial swagger predates squatters. There’s one, then two, four, eight, sixteen descend in a friendly argument. Their table manners are appalling. Parrots and firetails retire to corners, enjoying April warmth. It’ll only take a noise, a thought, and the flock lifts off for pickings elsewhere.