18 Jan, poem
Dorothea Lange, wanted to photograph every day, every hour of the day. Sam Contis
Today was becoming the first day in a year
without taking a photograph. Now VIRUS 2020
is finished, there’s no need to document my world.
I go out to check a continuous rasping complaint
from a Satin Bowerbird, catch branches moving
a snake is climbing the fringed wattle towards me.
Genesis makes no mention of lithe beauty,
the reptile’s calisthenics, the magical motion,
an image of effortless athleticism.
I nip back for my camera. The animal is near the top,
and stops at eye level. We look at each other,
its large black eyes seeing from the dinosaurs.
I charge back inside, call down to Wyn, come up
there’s something to see. Only twenty seconds
but the snake has melted away, a conjuring trick.
‘Green Tree Snakes are very inquisitive and will have a good look at you if you spot it in the garden.’ ‘It can camouflage itself amongst tree branches where it often looks like a branch.’ They spend most of their time in the trees and are mainly active in the day, hunting, sniffing for prey, but they also have large eyes and keen eyesight. They are not venomous, have no fangs. See https://www.backyardbuddies.org.au/backyard-buddies/green-tree-snake
More than 50 billion photos have been uploaded to Instagram so far. 6.1.2021 https://www.omnicoreagency.com/instagram-statistics/
