grey skies, gentle over a wide dusty landscape
striped lizards scuttle through saltbush, bush tomato,
succulents and silver leaves spaced over sandy soil.
mallee trees in strands of silver bark with salmon skins beneath.
large bellied spiders on long fine legs stretch two layers of web between them.
wrapped dinners strung in a vertical line
wombat holes form an amphitheatre
four feet of sloping sand and an entrance under the limestone
kangaroos keep their distance, plenty of rain means they don't look for the house water.
choughs socialise,
trim black forms dancing on the road edges
collecting swarming locusts
pardalotes build homes in pipes and gutters
sandflies search for bare skin
without citronella
small spiders, small ants, green ants, large flying ants
all busy in the sand
rain
black trunks on damp trees
thirsty soil