by JANE DOWNING
The island rises in the wetlands
an outcrop formed from felled trees
not rock / looking rocky
in the rippling pond
(ducks landing, insects gulping
the undersurface)
The island rises to a peak
against the skyline inviting
comparison to a Medieval abbey
in miniature on this vaster continent
gargoyled here by mallards
garlanded by a cormorant on top
tail elegantly presented
on the tree trunk’s cross-section
like a bride’s train down the aisle
The island rises as the sun
strengthens / overlaid in silhouette
by European imagery
because I do not belong
the frog song incomprehensible
on this land never ceded
The island rises in water reclaimed
from stormwater drainage
effluence from a city
of tentacle roads and Lego towers
metastasizing a car horn away
my path well-trod as
the swamp bird
props its wings to dry
crucifying the highest point
– Rocky outcrop in Dickson Wetlands,
Canberra, ACT (named after a tidal
island with abbey in Normandy, France)