Published in New Verses from New Voices, the second collection of poems of the ‘New Voices’ poetry group, Wellington Square Press, Sydney, 2016, p. 30.
The scene from Mackay, February 1946
Foul, pock-faced cane toad,
ddddddd-ing diesel-motor monotony,
point blunted, brutal snout –
bone-ridge standing out.
Blistered skin, natural asbestos,
squat, stout, poisonous, coarse
as torched plastic, toxic.
Dragonfly nymphs snaffle tadpoles,
wolf spiders snack warty shapes.
Not enough. Suppose they are
never leaving, breeding
out of control, naturalised,
as Aussie as speedos
and Clancy of the Overflow?
