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Acts | Michael Farrell | Issue 4

Unemployed man writes poem in one room slab hut

Mother, sister, cop, gunshot. Brother: absent, blame

Moon turns black-eyed face away, roses wilt

Currawong forgets its name: calls duck, pigeon

Unemployment gang. Lost, reckless children range

Dresses worn for shame (dresses suiting eucalypts)

Moon hops in hope of losing hunters. Cops die on

duty, pensions paid. The Survivor wins the Cup

Poem ‘Mosquitoes should be left in peace’ wins pub

slam. No other entries allowed on fear of crop death

Moon’s face on wanted poster. Honey for sale sign

by burrow. Koala on chain gang for peppermint theft

Unemployed poet wears tracking device in bush

Moon mistaken for helicopter: shot down. Rust

sweeps through prisons. Bars, locks, guns crumble

Escapees eat roses right off bushes, get shot at

Currawong writes poem, signs it The Kookaburra

Mother and sister hop sideways to evade cops

Poodle blamed. Wombat mistaken for bonsai hedge

Poem goes unpublished, poet wears oil drum in rain

Brother and friends die on job, no regrets. Moonlight-

in-water-eating-carp sink to bottom. Feral cats roam

state. Raid farms, traverse rivers, borders like birds

Honey trap for hunting party too rough to resist

Michael Farrell is from Bombala, NSW, and lives in Melbourne. His most recent book I Love Poetry won the 2018 Judith Wright Calanthe award. Michael edits Flash Cove (flashcovemag@gmail.com).

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