ARCOHAB Inc.
Association for Respectful Co-Habitation
Promoting and Practising Kindness and Respect for All Animals and the Natural Environment
Kangaroos – The 100 Days Project: Day 38 [63]
On a Photograph of Young
Kangaroos Boxing
Photo: Ray Drew
by David Brooks
arms raised, heads
thrown back, faces
pointed to the sky
the tall trees
swirling about them
the golden grass
barely touching their feet
the young kangaroos
in their boxer dance, safe
in the crack of twilight,
in the absence of the guns,
one step forward, one back, in sheer
excess of spring, chests
inflated, tails
bracing, mist
gathering in the forest hollows,
approach, grasp
your partner by the shoulders, greet,
push back, rear, kick
high into the air
repeat
Please note: the poem offered today is a substitute. What I had really hoped to offer on this date was a poem by Coral Hull, one of the finest and most striking literary defenders of the kangaroo. Unfortunately she is proving very difficult to contact. Rather than publishing her poem without permission, I would simply draw your attention to it, and encourage you to seek it for yourself. The poem concerned is entitled ‘Joeys In A Sack’, and can be found here.
The poem was first published in Coral Hull’s collection Bestiary (Salt Publishing, 2002).