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From: Vol.04 N.02 – What are the animals saying?

Nectar (from Providence Ponds)

by Louise Crisp

large scale fires … represent a significant and prolonged loss of key resources for nectarivorous birds, mammals and insects. (Clarke 2008: 9)

 

The eastern pygmy possum

dangles from the stalk-less

cylindrical

yellow

feast:

saw

ban

k

sia

fl

ow

er

s

s

s

 

Unmapped, the fire lit in ‘82

Burnt east of West Boundary

Tk along Providence Ponds

And a year later escaped

From an adjacent planned burn

To scorch again the same

Banksia which did not bear

To flower for 18 years

Clarke, M. F. (2008) ‘Catering for the needs of fauna in fire management: science or just wishful thinking?’ Wildlife Research 35 (5), 385-94

Published: July 2017
Louise Crisp

Louise Crisp’s long poem series Providence Ponds was written with the assistance of an Australia Council New Work Project Grant. She is currently researching and writing a series on endangered Gliders of East Gippsland supported by a VicArts Grant.

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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