My mother told
how the red fox
came visiting that winter
My father found
her one night
in the lean-to kitchen
amber eyes alight
After that
they spent time together
standing side-by-side
considering the day’s scraps
That was the way
she loved him most −
gentling wild animals
If he was still here
I could tell him
about the honeyeater
who flew inside
How, washing up,
I heard the rush of wings
and swift turning
saw her curved beak
When I slid
the double-doors open
she returned
to the summer garden
Our tandem hearts
slowing
to the same steady beat
Rozanna Lilley’s poetry has appeared in newspapers, literary journals and anthologies. Her hybrid prose-poetry memoir, Do Oysters Get Bored? A Curious Life (UWA Publishing, 2018), was shortlisted for the National Biography Award in 2019. A poetry collection, The Lady in the Bottle, will be published by Eyewear in the UK in 2021.