Loggers, Post Fire
AMANDA ANASTASI
Loggers, Post Fire
Before renewal can begin its certain
work in the tree heads; before new
green can sprout or flourish, again
they enter. From a dark tree hollow,
a glider peers out to a place where
destruction had swept the trees
and marsupials bolted to the hills,
their limbs burning. The machines
now border the remaining tree ferns,
making flat newly germinating plants.
They begin their task of removing
rotting timber: the food for insects,
the shelter for plants and funghi,
currently nourishing bandicoots.
They make their dent into the way of things,
disrupting soil that will bring the next yield;
the next birth from black. After the shouts
in Fluoro and vehicles have retreated,
the quietude and inevitable stirrings
return to the double-disturbed land.
© Amanda Anastasi, 2020.