Emu

• Lucia Gelonesi, Grade 8
• Poetry
• 2018

Bizarre bird
Your very designation a contradiction
Casually prehistoric
Made of bits and pieces from other elemental creatures
Your bald, blinking eyes, the colour of cumquats
Your claws, like surgical implements sanctioned by a surrealist
No doubt it is my own limitation that sees you as preposterous
I am laughing (nervously) at your toneless hiccups
Like a clarinet tuning up in a primary school band
There is no great beauty that hath no strangeness in the proportion
You would appreciate that
Dust bathing nomad, as tall as a tall man
Your splendour creeps up on me
When I meet eyes with you I feel myself trembling
The word God is on the tip of my tongue