Australiana

AUSTRALIANA

Norfolk Pines and Flooded Gums

Jarrah trees and cattle runs

Wandoo stands and Coachwood trees

and Strangler Figs that love to squeeze.

From deep sea tuna and dolphin jumps

to sharks and fish and crabs with lumps

a seal a penguin or a big fat Dugong

a Humpback Whale singing a song.

There’s Eucalypts and Wattle trees

Cockatoo’s and wild bush bees

there’s Pademelons and Kangaroos

rainforest birds who sing the Blues.

Small Dingo pups and Tasmanian Devils

to sleepy Koalas up high

Bandicoots and things that scoot

Eagles scanning the sky.

Blue Tongue Lizards and Bearded Dragons

Taipans and Red-belly blacks

Carpet snakes and huge Joe blakes

all hiding in the rocks and the cracks.

Wombats, Emus and Camels too

a Platypus stealth and shy

a desert rodent that likes to swim

and a fish that likes to fly.

Wild mountain Brumbies

and the Great White Shark

nocturnal marsupials

that hide in the dark.

There’s the funnel web spider

and the famous Redback

and a mob of Roos

way outback.

So many beasts to mention

in this country that we call home

I could accumulate another list

but I would need another poem.

© 2022 Neale Kirkland