Such small, sweet, chocolate brown corpses,
crumpled and bloody by the side of the road.
So maligned by the residents
who snarl about invasive species and say
‘they do enormous damage to native wildlife…’
On this remote archipelago of ground dwelling birds,
where the immigrant carnivore is king:
rats and cats, ferrets, stoats… and possums who
devour the eggs and fledglings of native birds,
spread disease, and damage crops.
So what about the damage we do?
Converting all that wilderness to farmland
for the sheep and cows we will devour?
Demolishing forests and natural habitat
to grow grapevines for more wine?
Easier to blame those desiccated carcasses
along the verge.
At least some will be recycled:
soft possum fur knitted with merino to make woollens
for another an invading species.