Coral Hull: Poetry: Bestiary: The Duck Rescue/ 1. 'The Gentle Water Birds'

I MACKENZIE KNIGHT I A CHILD OF WRATH A GOD OF LOVE I FALLEN ANGELS EXPOSED I

CORAL HULL: BESTIARY
THE DUCK RESCUE

1. 'The Gentle Water Birds'

'In 1993, the Federal Government gave a $250,000 grant to shooters & took away the tax deductibility status for donations channeled through the Australian Conservation Foundation for rescue expenses. That year 1000, dead protected species lay on the steps outside parliament house.' The Coalition Against Duck Shooting.

Ducks sound out, the contact call, it is rain, formations fall in beneath clouds, scaly legs hang in mid air, follow the grey horizons, secretive ducks with the sun on their necks & the sky on their minds, during that slow propelling of wings, above coastal lagoons, deep cold mountain lakes, inland freshwater swamps & tree lined billabongs, their flight is stalwart, swift, direct, so it is rain, the ducks have landed, nests are built, at the water level, with woven sticks, where ducklings chirp like crickets, where the long legged birds wade, step & push down water plants, ducks rest in the dense cover, at night flying silently to the shallows to feed, filtering food above a dabble of mud, they run their bills along submerged logs, encrusted with algae, dredging & upending plants & growth, they breed when the river floods, as the waters dry up they disperse, gentle moisture addicts, highly nomadic, webbed feet planted firmly in the shallows, until the sky is streaked, with the golden black, of a dawn opening a season, a first shot, the sky splits in half, a second, a third, a hundred thousand, the day has broken into red, distressed cries of ducks pelt from breastbones, heavy with falling lead, the splash of a gentle water bird, in the still cold world, a drunken shooter trips up in the shallows, fires at water, loses a dog, loses a boot, in the mud, overhead it is raining lead shot, eyes turn as blank as nails, ducks fall like footballs, the wetlands catch them as they fall.

    

This website is part of my personal testimony that has been guided by The Holy Spirit and written in Jesus' name.

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