A River of Stones 30. Unwritten Records

Sulphur-crested cockatoos
like a book full of torn
blank white pages,rise
on a thermal above a grove
of farm trees.
I make a mental note.

A River of Stones 29. Opportunist

a lone sparrow
forages along the car's
front grille - how many locusts
might be caught here?

A River of Stones 28. Her Scarecrow

As we skirt around washaways
and exclaim at uprooted trees,
flattened reeds, the loudness
of running water still a foot deep
on the causeway, she tells me
how she cleaned out the shed
assembled a scarecrow out of
wooden remnants of antique
furniture. "It will have swinging
legs! And arms!" says her
daughter. With all the rain we've
had, he will be busy, guarding
a runaway garden, vegetables
flourishing while the rivers clean
dirty beds, slept in too long.

A River of Stones 27. Work

the butterfly, as big as
the back of my fist
explores my fernery
its flapping loud enough
to scare off prey

A River of Stones - 26. Australia Day Party Vignette

In Kings Domain
a princely singer
and choir thank us,
thank our country
for allowing them
to live lives they love.
Teary eyes thank them
for this soaring, hearty
song of gratitude.

A River of Stones - Catching Up 20 - 25

At last! My new computer is operational.

20. No time to see the small stone
      only the small computer.
      Or large i-phone.
      My fingers, typing, make art
      of selection. 

21. The day before a weekend.
       My son shouts me a smorgasbord.
       Celebrating a birthday
       fattening.

22. Now my ex-husband advises
      on the treatment of couch grass.
      I am inspired by the possibility
      of several solutions at once.

23. Floods must have drowned
      millions of frogs and fish.
      Such benign glinting waters.
      So much tragedy we
      haven't witnessed.

24. But what about the people! you say.
      How large we are, how communal.
      What about the frogs, fish, spiders
      washed to oblivion?

25. The Man, the Dog, and the Ball

       All you need is
       a lightweight round brown ball
       a small white short-haired dog
       a man in his back yard, smoking
       and a fenceless tract 
       of emerald grass
       to see how thrilling
       the chase is.

A River of Stones 19. Another spider

striped legs, she says,
and this big! i was caught
in strong threads
that sticky web of admiration
and irritation