Debris Forest

Soft wind blows

Trees whisper to each other.

Kookaburras cackle,

scaring the other budjan away.

A cassowary trudges

into a new land.

The barren wasteland of dead trees.

Ground crunches beneath its

 knife-talons.

Cassowary’s head shoots up

as bulldozers roar.

Smoke clogs the air

THUMP! 

Wind whistles,

cassowary dashes away

as fast as a bolt

of lightning.

How can we fix it?

Gundungurra language reference: Bindi by Kirli Saunders (Magabala Books, 2020)