Mocco Wollert: ‘Kookaburra Bird’ and ‘Ondine: The Charolais Calf’

Kookaburra Bird

A feathered square,
squat and cocky,
he sends his laugh to echo
amongst the ghost gums
where the cracked earth
suffers silently, dying
in suffocating heat.
He flashes hidden blues
in the early dawn.

Laughing staccato arias,
he defies the elements
that shape our times,
should change him.
Mocking the dry ground
or praising lush greens,
his voice rings loudly
in both worlds.

Mocco Wollert

Ondine: The Charolais Calf

Among
the scorched stalks
of Northern pastures
stands the creamy,
sturdy body of the calf.

Hindlegs planted firmly,
head pushed closely
to her feeding fountain,
she sucks contentedly.

The mothers’ thick curls
lost in our sultry summer,
maybe she dreams
of luscious greens,
her calf will never know.

Mocco Wollert