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Em Mar 2021
Why Kookaburra
Hiding round the stone
Sulking in the graveyard
Silent and alone

Alas! Alas!
I’m selfish, cruel, a beast
I am a thief
A thief of time
Yet I don’t take
I give

Why Kookaburra
Do you shy away from trees
When flocks of birds come resting
And food is wild and free

Alas! Alas!
They will not receive me
Deceiver, am I
Laughing at the fools
I bring suffering and cries
And roost with empty wings

Why Kookaburra
Do you say these things?
You are a special bird
With nature to be these

Alas! Alas!
They think they know
Indeed
If survival’s not the key
Then what is left of me?

Why Kookaburra
What brash insults you speak
Accuse us of such deeds
Perhaps you must acquit

Alas! Alas!
Did you not say to be me?
To fly up on bird’s wings
Oh so high
And do what I need be?

Why Kookaburra
Look around and see
The world loves and lives
For those who sit and sing
People are difficult to satisfy
George Krokos Dec 2010
Aborigines and kangaroos
boomerangs and didjeridoos.
Leafy gum tree branch and koala bear
black stump in the middle of nowhere.
Jolly swagman camped by a billabong
in 'Waltzing Matilda' a favourite song.
The wild brumbies roaming free in the outback
a scruffy hobo living alone in a country shack.
Aboriginal myths called their dreamtime
the native Australians regard as sublime.
Ring-tailed possum and wombat
aussie bloke wearing akubra hat.
Alice Springs and Ayers Rock
outback stations and livestock.
Ned Kelly bushranger and his law brushes
the Eureka stockade during the gold rushes.
Laughing kookaburra and old man emu
platypus swimming in underwater view.
Banjo Patterson’s poem ‘The Man from Snowy River’
who went riding down mountain side without a quiver.
Surfers paradise and the Great Barrier reef
sixties rock ‘n roll legend: Johnny O’Keefe.
Anzac marches and the land of the Southern cross
old Cobb & Co. stagecoach used to travel across.
Glorious summer sunshine and winter rains
severe country drought and the desert plains.
Eucalyptus scent and Tea-tree oil
good health remedies from the soil.
Fresh water yabbies and the witchety grub
all make good tucker in the bush or scrub.
Crocodiles in the Kakadu national park
Burrumundi and the great white shark.
Sydney harbour bridge and the Opera House
Daintree rain forest and the kangaroo mouse.
Sheep wool farming and old shearing sheds
Melbourne Cup horse race for thoroughbreds.
Riverboat cruising up and down the Murray
passing border country towns not in a hurry.
Cradle mountain and the Tasmanian Devil
saying ‘fair dinkum’ means it’s on the level.
AFL rules football and big crowds at the MCG
playing one day cricket there is exciting to see.
The Fitzroy Gardens and Captain Cook’s cottage
are there for all to see as symbols of our heritage.
The Twelve Apostles standing along a rugged stretch of coast
a Ninety-Mile beach is something about which we can also boast.
The Glass House mountains are a sight to see and even to climb
by those who consider themselves fit enough and in their prime.
The great Australian Bight and the road on the Nullarbor plain
is a great feat to drive across and be able to come back again.
The local native wild dog known by name as the Dingo
has nothing to do with a game people play called Bingo.
There’s also a game called two-up that some people play
by which they gamble most of their weeks wages away.
Luna Park in St.Kilda and the annual Royal Melbourne Show
are places where you can take the kids to have fun people know.
There’s the local pub where you can go and have a drink with your mates
and is what many do all day long having a few too many in all the States.
This great southern land of Australia has so much to see and to offer
it would be a ****** shame if one didn’t give a **** or was a scoffer.
_________
Private Collection - written in 2002
betterdays Mar 2014
Ethel echidna
had a date wid Pike,
a fiiine!
young hedgehog
who be doin' the backpack

she got n' egg
ya see bout a rave
up in the mountains
in a black cathederic cave
doof doof in the dandenongs

d' message said
up dee track
where the ding dongs
don't dare follow
round d' hollow n'
up the back

Ethel she preened
and she polished
the dreds down her back,
clickety, click, clack.
painted her claws
a fetching shade
of orange neon
all watched on by
Pike the backpack peon

then to the doof
dey departed
at a fast shuffel
leaving behin
barely a ruffle
in the burrowed air
they followed
d'directions to
d' right section
dis dey knew
by d' sound of
d' massive party
goin down

on payin d' dosh n'
getten d' mark
off dey went
inta the fray
***** boy mumbled
"woyhoy gotcha!"
when he saw who
was providin
the goodmuse vibing
up ona stage
Jagger the emu
was a struttin'
with Ringo the dingo
on drums an bongos
while Hendrix
the numbat riffed d' strat
an  Entwhistle
d'frogmouthed owl
grooved on his gibson
wid ***** left stage staring

Ethel got bizzy
check'n out the dancefloor
lookin for bling or moves wid a sting
perhaps a little ******* headbangin

well down
at the southdoor
trouble was brewin'
foul words
was spewin between
d magpie n seagull crews
till the bouncers,
kanga & roo
hustled dem
all outside for a brew

up near the stacks
Pheobe the lizard
was flashin
a matchin
frill n grill ensemble
while Stan, her man
was fillin his bill
at the buffet table
as only a pelican can
at the grub bar
sat the kookaburra trio
Max,Tom, Deccy
havin a speccy
at tha lady
cockatoos n' galahs,
givina chuckle
at the bruhaha
they had created
comin flyin from
near n' far to this
surberb n spectacular
festival of fauna
"tho hot as a sauna
best dis year sofah"

jus inside
d' recovery corner sat
Horn a blue tongue lizard
feelin a bit pukey n' flat
den dere was
Kayla n' Jac
a pair o koalas
who now be zonin
from d eucalyptus
dey been a chewen
alldayz

outaback time it's awastin
with dis watchin n waitin

Ethel hit the floor
wherever
she booggied,
grooved or h-banged
she got a big crowd,
given her ground
to shake
her dreds around
cause dat girl
is dangerous
wid her dredlocks man,
to which Zach
the one eyed wombat
can well attest

Now not bein a dancer
***** got lonely
so looked upa chat
with the rest
of d' backpackin crowd
he swapped recipes
for green brownies wit
Boomer the orangatang,
harvest spots wit
Goth the friutbat,
Hamish de otter,
quiet de globetrotter,
did giv ***** some tips
about surfin rips
furder down de coast.

so dey shimmyed
an dey shammyed,
dey talked
an dey squawked
till d' old sun
came out to play
den dey wandered
and dey wended
back down
d' track to d' town
to sleep d' day away.

as to our Ethel
and *****,
well
dey crawled
gingerly
inta their bed,
they cuddled
an dey clicked,
dey kissed
an dey snicked
and dey
blew dey
selfs away
Taylor Jul 2011
A purple sky gave backdrop to a web of stars.
Fairies flew through the night.
Waves of scarlet, indigo, and violet mark their trail.

A dragon roars off in the distance.
A wolf howls at the moon,
And a kookaburra sings,
Lending its voice to the chorus of the night.

Glowing fish zip through the moonlit lake.
Mermaids rest on rocks,
Tails adorned with patterns that come alive with the touch of a lover.
Their hair is done up with beautiful braids,
Dew drops as bracelets on their wrists.

A griffin lies at the mouth of a cave,
Its golden hide tattooed with a delicate hand.
Cubs learn to take flight,
Dodging pixies dancing in the night.

Young bear cubs run through the forest,
They hunt out sleeping wood nymphs,
Making a game out of waking the beautiful girls.
With a whack of a branch the game ends,
But not without a satisfying laugh from the nymphs watching above.

An elf watches from above,
Drinking in the smiles of the night,
The twinkle of the stars,
And sighs of embrace.

What a night to be alive.
many interludes of laughter pealed
from a jovial kookaburra
who sat high on the elm tree's branch
gaily chortling to himself
as the dawning sun rose
of such merry tidings
the bird did bring
uplifting
was his
joy
######
he'd
given
the new day
a jolliness
the mood of much glee
making his chuckling tones
the sound great to listen to
enlivening the heart's spirits
with a bright awakening call
ever so happy in the morning staging
betterdays Apr 2014
kookaburra  war
cacophony at dawnbreak who needs sleep
not me

strong black coffee please! long sleepless night behind me,
longer day ahead

origami cranes
gather on the windowsill
awaiting the breeze

feeding virtual koi
one of one thousand inane actions done this day

sticky little hands
*****, grimey, smiley face kindi good today?

Once upon a time,
So much latent potency
In  five simple words

lay you, down thy head,
upon linen cool and fine
rest thy weary mind.
a day of hiakus
eyes wide open
thru
to eyes drooping closed
goodnite
betterdays May 2014
the night is
                  still
                     dark
                       quiet
there is a distinct
                           chill
                             breathe
                            gently steams
from my mouth
                      seen only in the
light of a poets tablet.

the first bird is yet to wake
i am alone in my early mornings prowl.

too cold for the little grey cat
and too early for the human companions, they all remain
abide... cozied up and asleep

as i search the dark cold              
                                          nigh­t
for meaning.

in the distance the kookaburra cackle and chuckle
            dawn has come...
betterdays Jun 2014
it appears as though
there was a coup,
in kookaburra land,
this morning.

much fuss,
and cacophony.
as the brown and blue kingfisher clan, reassembled,
their royal court.

the big old king,
uncurled his talons,
unfurled his wings,
gave one last,
manical chuckle....
and fell from his perch.

to lie still,
upon the dusty,
brown earth.

shocked, silence for some seconds, and then...
the eucalypts erupted into, (what would appear to the outsider);
cold calculating mirth.

as the young jacko princes, all began the joking joust
for the top place berth.

in a melee of swooping, chuckling grace,
a contest no less,
set to test....
mettle, worth and cackle call.
each young bird,
takes to the wing and flies into the maddening...and how close,
         how loud,
                  how startling,
         they can be.
            is made known,      
by those,
whose years,    
            have flown.

when all, is said and done. tourney overflown,
feathers are preened.
then the winner
is presented,
with opportunity, bold....
to nest the queen.
as to the rest,
they take their place,
in the chaotic, cackling, cacophonous,
kookabuurra clan nests.
to bide their time,
until, the next coup,
                        comes calling...
this is fiction, i have no idea, really, how jackos sort out their hierarchy. they where just exceptionally excited at dawn this morning... and this flowed through.
betterdays Jun 2014
5.41
is the time on the clock face,
when the first kookaburra
calls.
this corner of the world,
still dark and cold.
but then i suppose,
some poor sucker,
had to get the early bird gig
i just wish, it was'nt,
the noisiest bird in the park.

look out worms.....laughing death is on the wing.
and thus starts another day.
betterdays Aug 2014
i have found a patch
of quietude in my busy
day and spend it outdoors.

under a dovegrey, marshmallowed sky
and with the gossip of
two brown house sparrow
wifes.

i take my loafers off
and share the fragent warmth of the earth
with the colony of oiled, black skinks
and the shy, baby
blue tongue.

and i  sit on a log...
and breathe..
long and deep...
restrorative sighing.

then appearing  above us all, a kite or eagle, rides the wind in circles....perhaps...
the baby blue tongue,
is right to be shy...

in the distance
the kookaburra chuckles
and the lorikeets squabble
and people murmur and shout.

too soon,
my respite is over.
then it is shoes on,
and back to the computer screen and desk....

but at least i had a few moment's grace...
betterdays Mar 2014
the kookaburra's
shuffle, along
the power lines
like, wing-ed music,
they organise and reorganise
the day's riff.

darting down, to pick
a lizard morsel from
the earth,
recalibrates, the sound
of maniacal mirth.

shuffle down, shuffle down,
hop across, and shuffle up
swoop away, fly on in.
all, accompanied by
raucuos din.

then they settle and they
doze
beady eyes open in repose.
a pause in the clamour
of the day's beat.
the clan a couple of days ago
betterdays Jun 2014
i wake up at 5.41
again...
curled up in my armpit
the little blucat
blusfully happy
loud rumbling purrs
assure me of that
on my other side
asleep with head
resting on my belly
my soon to be
four years old son
i lie awake
in the dark
smiling...
surrounded by love
and wait for the kookaburra's call
linked to 5.41am
SøułSurvivør Sep 2014
Kookaburra's,
though silly,
still course
the sky

chickens
have wings
but will never

FLY


SoulSurvivor
The Kookaburra is
also known as "The Laughing *******"
betterdays May 2014
the sun is struggling to meet
it's commitments this morn
and sits low on the mountain tops
smudging the sky pink and
charcoalred as it climbs wearily into the clouded sky

in reality, nothing much wants to get out of bed
the rooster only gave
a half- hearyed crow
the kookaburra's just chuckled and then went back to bed

as for you and me still here
away from home
we snuggle down into tje warmth and take comfort
in the childfree zone..

it is too cold to do anything other...
until the sun gets it's act
together
it's snooze time ,
thanks to
the ****** cold, mountain
weather...
early morning freeflow....
betterdays Apr 2014
the cool air of the morning awakens me,
bird's bustle and gossip in the first rays,
of a new turn around,
the sun.

tears pool and nestle,
at the bridge of my nose, thick with emotion
left from a dream.
devoid of details,
but rich in sorrow,

a hungering feral sorrow.
that still lingers,
licking at the corners
of my mind.

i feel a discordance
with myself, sighing to expell this thing prowling, my breathe,
catches on a sob.

the kookaburra's laugh, jarringly close
and then further away.

i wipe at these tears, unbidden, unshed
and turn?
to find my grounding,
my steadfastness,
my hearts ease watching,
he draws me to him,
his lips,smoothing
my furrowed brow,
his hands creating an intensity, that is ours alone.

we make,
sweetness and beauty,
joy and oblivion, before falling asleep once more.
George Raitt Oct 2016
Jabiru. Brolga.
Kookaburra. King parrots,
Blue wrens, now black swans.
Mateuš Conrad Jul 2021
well.. i wasn't wrong... England made it to the European
championship final... coming against Italy...
but wait a minute... wait a minute:
in what style!
                            oh yeah... it's just screaming:
Gieves & Hawkes!

how can this English team win against all
that's gusto that's STYLE: that's ******* Gucci...
once upon a time growing up in England
i managed to spot a few pedagogic
pillars...

everything has to be made fair for everyone
partaking...
meritocracy is key...
racists have smaller brains than non-racists...
ha ha... these days i don't know
how to tell apart racists from anti-racists...
which is always fun: ethno-masochism is
going to stick to me like a leech...

what style?
if all that's English is all Locke and not Rousseau...
the team that plays for... scoring goals as flukes...
and later with no imagination...
has a runner dribble the ball into the penalty
rectangle and... win by... not a penalty shootout...
but a penalty in extra-time?

the "home" of football where:
it's not about playing football... it's about winning...
whatever the hell that means...
cheaper wines have more sulphites...
i can taste the smoothness of
my laughing bird cabernet sauvignon...
naked after the kookaburra...
2016 vintage...

this team for all its passing prowess...
the dull football that is better known
as the north sea derby...

you can't win a championship while the entire
throng of support
is... gasping for air with the words:
IT'S NOT FAIR! PENALTY!
PENALTY!

it was almost amusing to watch the entire Danish
team stand firm and clap at the English team
"taking the knee":
i once went to catholic mass... since
i went to a catholic school:
lo and behold... i am yet to be confirmed:
since i read a little bit of the Gnostic texts....
like Źιźek once made the observation:
****** spoke... waited... and engulfed all
that came with the people subsequently clapping...
he wouldn't clap...
Stalin... subsequently: clapped with
the audience he addressed...

it could have be seen that "taking the knee"
was a good-luck charm?
for what... ethno-masochism?
you can't win a football match playing
without a hunger for a goal...
you can't just run into a penalty area
dribbling dribbling: drooling at the legs
playing for a penalty...
without... say... shooting from outside
the box for the Gucci glamour...

when i look at the Union Jack
i think about... Elizabeth I...
i have to...
what weight of the world on this woman's shoulders...
that woman's shoulders...
what genius...
she instigated the union...
she was playing the role of
ol' aunty Lizzy...
so that her cousin's son would become
the future King of England
and have leverage to craft the union...
whether she lost her virginity:
i get to **** prostitutes: i'm not too bothered
about the body...
but like i noticed: reciprocally...
self-hygiene is important...
now wouldn't be apprehensive
having ****** ******* with the freed
women of Fred... sorry... the Vest...
if i might catch a ******...
or gonorrhoea?

at least in the brothel...
i'll put some acacia confusa bark in my mouth...
i'll work at an *******
then pinch off the excess *****...
then i'll shave the whole region...
i'll shower... i'll slobber on some mint-cream:
ah, refreshing... on the barely touched regions...
i'll shower... shampoo... squat...
stand-up... squat again... bench-press my body-mass
with press-ups... cycle up to the brothel...
i'll scrub my hands with some
fenugreek seeds...
a total **** of scents...
she'll make sure by wiping my working part
completely clean before turning
into a liver-eating nymphomaniac ******...
i'll be fine with that...
i'll ask her if i can photograph her
face in the mirror...

perhaps in the olden days: there was this fear
of visiting prostitutes and catching...
syphilis... where is that... at? these days?
you have more chance of catching "something":
from the freely available flesh market
of dating / hook-up apps...
prostitutes are harem born...
cleanliness is: a white linen niqab...
if men of...

oh we know what the Arabs have become...
docile ***-mad perverts:
you give an Arab a sip of wine...
he turns the entirety of the desert
into... something manageable...
you give an Arab too much of what he already
supposedly has: subsequently imports from
the core of the mythological blonde persuasion:
the same of the same old...

how else doesn't it "work"?
madonna's la isla bonita: the mythological blonde...
coupled up with either Tarzan or
King Kong...
blonde Danes are excluded from her fantasies...
good... this bartablondine is looking
for a Turkic ol' raven haired mystery
of the orient: this is where we part...
a woman's fetish for the exotic can be
matched... i'll be looking for my Constantinople
brothel beauty...
i'll be rummaging in Romania alongside
Dracula...
anaemic beauty to begin with...
slugging white and all that's timid toward
the sun... copper-skinned serpent come summer...
i too can reply... Turkic ol' raven haired
tinged with a tease of black-blue...
to hell with these hypocritical-nuns!

i best keep them as the mythological blondes
that they are:
African ****-leeches...
toward adventure! bring the crab-bucket to the fore!
i'm not going to go as far as
as the English skins preference
for the Thai-surprise... nope...

you can't win a football match with the sole
focus of ballerina tiptoeing
via herr stiletto Grealish or:
"dupka": pristine buttocks: RA'HEEM...
SH-terling... running into the box
for a penalty:
the worst way to win a match...
not lasting to the penalty shootout is...
is making a grift..
the proper:  "English" way:
it's not about the football:
it's about the ******* silverware!

if they win: they only achieved being
in the final by: a fluke...
not chance: by fluke...
fluke is: plumbing per se...
not chance not fate
not luck: if fluke is plumbing per se:
then all the other nouns
and noun-stressors exfoliating
within the designation of adjective
are: foam like ****...
there's no style... let alone: honour
winning a football match
by having the crowd pressure you
to pressure the opposing team to
subsequently pressure the referee to
give you a penalty:
play should have been stopped...
there are two footballs on the pitch...
i must be ******* blind!

oh... the English can fathom preaching
to the choir...
come to think of it...
they don't care about the beauty of the game...
they care much more about
the queen's jewels...
it's not even about: how you win
this championship:
it's only about: winning it...

i cling to the elder gods: surprise me with
something more profound than:
oculus per oculus...
seems thirsty enough... thirst is all there is:
and the many tiers of hunger...

you can't win a football match without
scoring goals...
running into the box hands extended:
taking the knee:
screaming: IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT FAIR!
isn't going to cut it...
for ****'s sake...

i like watching sports without chanting...
watching sport allows me
the only: perhaps the "lost" avenue
of exercising objectivity...
i can measure out what's: fair...
contra... what's blatantly itching me...
England "won" the game against
Denmark... not because they played
better... the English just want
the silverware...
they don't want to entertain the crowd
with football: they want to WIN...
they might be playing footbal:
no... i think they're gambling on a curriculum
of teasing poker...

that wasn't a penalty... it should have been
a shootout... plain and simple...
Italy will make England
want: a deserved: thrashing...
i look at sports: esp. teamed events
and i think about
whatever happened when
the Judgment of Solomon happened...

the English: so centrist so middle of the world
so: sensible: so awe-inspiring...
can't ******* win a football match
without having to pressurise the opposing
team into making a defensive pseudo-
"faux pas"...
             if silverware is all you want...
**** it...
throw as many pearls into the mud
for the pigs to screech while gobbling 'em up!

i've made my peace...
i've just said it...
         England does not deserve to win...
amore! amore!
Janna B Nov 2020
I took a walk this morning
in the cooler air
before the hot summer day
kicked in.

Seeking peace
and finding some today.
Surrounded by butterflies,
beautiful golden cloud,
reminder of the joy of life.

Startling a lizard,
chirping birds,
hearing the kookaburra call.
Kangaroo and joey
resting in the shade.

Golden butterfly
waiting on my front door.
Wings flapping a slow rhythm
like a beating heart,
beating for me.
Vicki Kralapp Sep 2020
Your early morning chorus echoes within my distant memory;
the raucous call of the kookaburra wakes the bush with each daybreak,
the ting of the bellbird echo as the magpies play on their pipes.
The harmony of life in the bush became my lover.

I long for the smell of your gum trees on the fresh morning breeze;
a cuppa in hand, I soak in the dappled landscape,
while the sun goes walkabout through the bush,
reflecting like diamonds dancing on the morning dew.
All poetry copy written by Vicki Kralapp 9/2020

— The End —