Donkey
the
flies of the donkeys ears and legs the
magpies and the currawongs of the dam and
the
honey-eater wiping his beak on a branch
the three
donkeys hee-hawing like bagpipes Chrissy
Chrissy
oh Chrissy was very sick the day the
apple dropped from her mouth her big donkey head
could not chew it she looked as if she wanted
me to do something I held her
head to my
chest
like a barrel a donkeys head is so large
so
much expression the warm brown buttery
eyes
the daylight melts in them birds in
the nearby
trees crows magpies some wrens on
the wire
fence
that have picked the bugs from her buckled
back Chrissy, dying gently the slobbered apple
drops out of her mouth you can be invisible she
sees it fall onto the ground she lies down
the farm
doesnt take
long the farm is moving around the
bones the farm doesnt take much time to eat
the flesh and bone after four weeks there was
nothing left of Chrissy nothing left of her just
a patch
of her rich chocolate fur stuck to the skull
a wet rug chocolate fur the farm has eaten
her
polished her bones bones still moist sucked
on
by daylight dawn came, coldly all her brief
life
the
property has not loved her as you had hoped
it would did she hurt? but no
longer it has
eaten her up now polishes her bones her
eyes
gone first delicious to birds you
can be invisible
|