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From: Vol.01 N.01 – Ecopoetic Ruminations

Music, or a kangaroo chats about chastity

by Michael Farrell

    In the harsh noon the bellbird sounds its chastest note. Note

 how ants sleep,

and locusts sleep: when they wake they forget what

    they wanted to give themselves

 to. Behave as in an imaginary library,

one that you carry through the bush, collecting overdue loans

    with a beneficent

 smile, and nodding at the phrase ‘search terms’. You

know what’s searched most. There

    may be no god, nor money either.

 Yet we work for both sunup till down. Some trace it back

to St Augustine,

    but that’s hardly necessary (for us). You are one, and

 will be two soon enough. There

are young red bucks, there are golden

    does, there are sex-doves under the mistletoe. I call them hornets,

 poets, singers

of naught. It’s a popular vein. ‘Get your thighs dirty.’

    You understand your own body’s

 music, not the rudeness of that company.

An Australian and international
journal of ecopoetry and ecopoetics.

Plumwood Mountain Journal is created on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to elders past, present and future. We also acknowledge all traditional custodians of the lands this journal reaches.

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