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).