Kangaroo Paws
Poems written in Australia
Published by Thomas Jefferson University Press
Kangaroo Paws "offers a stunningly unsentimental eye for beauty, a mind that ruminates on the run, and a tart, sometimes heartbreaking lyricism that spares nothing—but also misses nothing—not a peacock or kangaroo, not a tourist or irony, not a passing/piercing thought."
— RACHEL HADAS
The Humming
In a godless time, I've heard,
men still scan heaven for signs.
Without any faith at all
they query the gossipy bird--
seek meaning in squiggly lines
in the dust, a jagged scrawl
that must reveal something.
They stare at etchings in rock
and the striations in petals,
wonder why blossoms cling
to one wave. Out of a flock,
they'll notice, one settles
close by, as if for a chat.
But take no notice of that
unless you live in a flat
and terrible time. You alone
know if you need such wisdom
as what is heard in the hum
given off in the heat of a stone.