Brenda is a First Nations Wiradjuri writer and performer living in Katoomba. Her poetry and short fiction appear in edited anthologies and journals both on-line and in print, including Westerly, Australian Poetry, Live Encounters, Mascara,the Circular Anthology of Best Australian Prose Poems 2021, Best Australian Poems 2022. She performed her memoir, My Mob, as a Short Film, winning the Best Script Prize, London Short Film Festival in 2021.
Adaptation
1. Invincible
Sydney Harbour Large-footed Bat
Small as a finger, this bat has eagle claws
long enough to hold prey twice his size
Unique to the harbour, this creature hunts
in saltwater bays. At dusk, he hangs
unseen, under bridges, wharves, tunes
into echoes sounding across river
In the darkness he pin-points every ripple
each surface hum. Spreads curling toes
to scoop up minnows, prawns mid- flight
What defence has this tiny flyer against
oil slicks, heavy metals. Blinding light
from pleasure craft, the endless roll
of traffic on the bridge. City night life
closing in to confuse his sonic arc
2. Invisible
Booligal Glass Perchlet
See-through as cellophane she flits
an olive flash through shallows, ephemeral
as her wetland home along the river
Believed extinct, she hides in billabongs
run off from lakes, lost among cumbungi
Clearing the swamp of pests, she waits
for fresh water and a chance to spawn
For a flood to wash her young downstream
This native minnow has turned night-hunter
invisible to giant carp invading her pond
She survives dry times hiding under sand
struggles against locks, weirs changing
the river’s flow. Bright blue-green algae
silently smothering her water world
yellow hunger
high in the bloodwood tree
you lift honey bag
from a native hive
wary of the swarm
between the teeth
sugar cells crumble
against palate and tongue
lips smack
as you squeeze
pools of mottled gold
searing your throat
with heady sweetness