BLACK BEETLES
on cracked off white gutters/ broken
by weeds & kikuyu roots/ & hot tar
roads bleached grey/ kids playing
handball & roadside cricket/ kids
of hard bare feet/ & an itch/ from
maddening tips/ of bindi spears/
we only play with what we can find/
flat pieces of wood from council
premises/ abandoned balls from
garden edges/ imaginations still
intact/ we stay out until dark/
watching sydney's highway lights
strengthen into amber/ becoming
ominous/ we tire gradually into
urban adolescence/ i stand bare
chested in the suburbs/ losing
interest in the games of others/
knowing i must assist/ little
black beetles/ writhing on their
backs/ acutely mechanical/ disjointed
movements of natural batteries/
running low in energy/ children
driven to panic by leg palpitations/
& s.o.s. insect ultrasonics/ i
spend hours in gutters/ flipping
beetles right way up with twigs/
reassuring others/ that wings
appearing broken/ snap back into
position/ at my care charged tampering/
what is the scientific definition
for black beetles?/ we call them
mothers & fathers/ & even now they
are dying along highways/ by the
millions/ i spend my summers in
cities/ trying to turn/ their dark
little lives/ right side up | 
