Someone in our neighbourhood 
Found a red bellied black snake today
Inside their letterbox
Which is quite the level up
From the usual huntsman inhabitants
Of such enclosures

And there was an echidna seen
Wandering streets and gardens
On a number of occasions
In recent months 

There are magpies that nest in the big trees
At the top of the hill behind my house
Swooping at walkers heading for the bus stop 
I have ambitions to offer them friendship 
In the form of scraps of meat
And quiet familiarity

But I would have to walk up the hill for that
So I probably won’t 
Maybe they’ll visit me here one day

I’m planting a garden, slowly
That will feed and shelter the birds 
And the bees and spiders and lizards
I’d prefer the snakes stay away
They can have down by the creek
In the bush, not the playgrounds 

It’s a new neighbourhood 
Much of it still being built
The green farmland bulldozed away

I used to be able to count a dozen different species
Of birds just in my own front garden 
With cockatoos throwing seed pods
At my front window or unguarded head
And lorikeets demanding apple
Screeching at the back door

There were possums in my roof
And geckos in my garage
And water dragons in the backyard 

I miss living in a place where the wildlife
Breached the boundaries between 
My world and theirs
But time will blur the boundaries here
I’m already hearing more bird calls now
Than I did when I moved here last year

#notasbadasvogons