Bird Garden

Under the net that is their sky,
bridges across the canopy
give bird’s-eye views of hosts of air:
imperial pigeons’ dove-grey necks,
purple tails, viridescent wings;
white Bali mynahs winking blue
above acidic mats of weed;
superb and beautiful fruit doves.
Red lories burn against dark leaves,
preen powder down out of their plumes;
loud Argus pheasants, watchful, creep
past stilt roots walking trunks across
the forest floor; cauliflory
burgeons above plank buttress roots,
ridged palm logs moulder beside paths;
male fairy bluebirds splash in pools,
Dyck texture weaves of bold cobalt
and turquoise modulate the light
in iridescence: rainbow hues
of Iris winging gifts to men,
the real birds of Paradise.

Morning and Evening

Morning

White cockatoos on bare treetops
against green forest bob and scrape
their bills on bark; soaring above,
kites hang on outstretched pinions.
Primordial tree ferns’ croziers
unfurl vernation: in their shade
a silent-winged black butterfly.

Evening

Descending heron lands: disturbed,
a terrapin drops off a rock,
awakening ripples. Flitting bats
stamp scalloped flecks of darkness out
of the pale sky. The monkish stone,
rapt in self-contemplation, bends
over the mirror of the lake.