Caught in a farmer’s fence,
the wallaby fights the wire,
struggles and relents.
Trying to get free,
he’s wound in the ligature
more desperately
until he hangs in air,
martyred by a change
of atmosphere
that makes no sense,
foreclosing range
for recompense.
David Mason’s latest book of poems is Pacific Light (Red Hen Press). He lives in Tasmania.
This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 42 Number 3, on page 32
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