Magpies

Steve Evans

Never mind the melodies, the constant carolling.
I’m not saying your liquid sound isn’t pretty,
if a little drunken,
it’s just that your attire doesn’t suit.
You look like you dressed for the party in a hurry,
with your tuxedos on backwards.

Your shirtfronts are a brilliant white,
but they face to the rear.
Your coal-black coats are reversed as well.
Is this meant to confuse
or are you mocking us?

Gathering at the end of the street,
your choir of eight or nine rehearses,
warming up for evensong.
I listen to the lilting rounds that come
like waterfalls exchanging gifts,
and know that you don’t care at all.

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Steve Evans writes fiction, poetry and nonfiction. He has written or edited 17 books (eight of poetry), most recently Easy Money and Other Stories in 2019 and the poetry collection Unearthly Pleasures in 2021, and has won national prizes. He was previously Head of English at Flinders University where he ran the Creative Writing Program.

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