Kookaburra

by Steve Horne, UK

Good old Australia

steeped in sun
wall-to-wall sun
too-hot-for-sunbathing sun

a solar superpower-in-waiting
is chasing…..

…..coal

a grimly humorous situation
not lost on the kookaburra nation
now infecting each ululation
each koo-koo-koo-kooky modulation

of vowels
bent like facts
through new fantastic
channels

the loops
of quasi-chimp vibratos
forced through
constricting hoops

curdling bones, never mind blood

‘r’s rolling hysterically round corners

and that ka-ka-ka-cackle 
trapped in a gargle
wrapped in a kingfisher
aping a seagull    

this wordy birdy’s 
not so much cheeky-chappie happy

in his smoking world
as plainly manic

in his panic