Coral Carter #11 Travellers Guide

Travellers guide

You know you're in the country

when butterflies and birds flip across the breakfast table
 lunch brings the blowie bomb squad

you learn each voice in the sheep chorus
afternoon has a  tractor work soundtrack

everyone at the post office knows your name
before you know theirs

You know you're in the country
when clouds of dust means someone is coming
cops drive by and wave

your neighbour drops around with excess milk

you find a nest full of lost eggs

light on dry grass causes you to pause mid-step
when you catch all the colours of dawn and dusk

You know you're in the country
you want to murder the hunting cat with feathers on its lips
fox makes midnight mayhem in the unlocked duck yard

you find by torchlight a possum dining on a fistful of blossoms

and the night sky is clotted with stars.