In the park just now
the season's first bush fly
touched my face -
a caress, no less -
like a memory roused
of bush flies past:
the one in sweaty Mildura
as I gaped at the Murray
that settled on my tongue
and was hard to spit out;
in Gundagai I allowed
one further and swallowed;
numerous ones that reached
wherever I was moist at the beach
when the insect-repellent aerosol
had mysteriously gone awol.
Some complain of snakes,
man-eating sharks,
fatal lurking redbacks,
tarantulas,
fever-carrying mosquitoes,
creatures poisonous
infesting this region
with diverse contagion.
I merely testify
against the bush fly.
Max Richards in Melbourne
10 November 2010
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