10 A Strange Bird MICHAEL DRANSFIELD
it is a strange bird
this world
whose habit is
to fight itself
whose left wing
and right wing
tear themselves
bitterly apart
both on the side
of justice and violence
and whose great beak
gobbles the poor
from Contemporary Australian Poetry (Houghton Mifflin, 1990), edited by John Leonard.
Used and reprinted by permission.
Click here for a reading by Jacob Rosenberg of this poem, and one of his own.
Click here for a video of the Melbourne premiere of Leonard Lehrman's setting, Jan. 5, 2002.