Forest

Tags

Arboretum, Australian babblers, Australian honey-eaters, Australian poet, Azure Kingfisher, Bicheno finch, Brush Box Tree, Bunya Pine, Crested dove, Double-bar finch, Formal poetry, Gum trees, Illawarra flame tree, kookaburra, Owl-faced finch, poem, poetry, Silky Oak, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, Spotted Gum, tea tree

Forest

Around my arboretum take a tour:
A Bunya Pine where owl-faced finches nest —
They buzz and beep. A flash as an azure
Kingfisher dives. A dusky dove with crest
And wings displayed puffs out his dappled chest,
There with his mate high in a silky oak.
Two kookaburras in a tall gum rest;
They chuckle quietly at a private joke.
Amongst the fallen leaves grey babblers poke
And prod the ground for insects. Lipstick-red,
Each flame tree wears its brilliant fiery cloak.
By spotted gum, tea tree and box we tread,
And marvel at the life the forest brings.
High overhead, a honeyeater sings.

— D.N. O’Brien

{Photo – D.N. O’Brien}

The Paper Bark

Tags

Australian bush poetry, Australian traditional poetry, Bush Poetry, paper bark, poem, poetry, tea tree

Close to my house a tea tree stands
With bark of paper so it seems,
That can be peeled in sheets and strands
And gathered up in reams and reams.

As paper this stuff fits the bill
And writing on it is a treat.
Its cost is very close to nil;
The tree replaces every sheet.

This bark I’m sure became the page
When literary skills arose
And every wise old native sage
With charcoal pen was writing prose.