spindly casuarinas fill up the cavities
between the eucalypts the earth
a maze of logs and rocks
jolting and juddering we reach
an amnesty with nature and emerge
into a gap between bush and hill
a slow brown eye of water looks up
at the sky from a rim of clay
all else squat straw-dry tussocks
released the dogs dip and dive
then snuffle and snort among
the bald bones of kangaroos
we come upon a cache
of poppies the soporific kind
soft pink with a black thumb print
the frail crinkled petals match
with nothing in this brown tough place
except its deep intentional dreaming
