A Question for My Father

by Maree Reedman

You poisoned the ducks
and drowned the cats
in the Brisbane River.
My brother always adds,
To protect your mother’s chickens
but still, the hessian bag
suffocates me
as the water rises,
as a child I watched tadpoles
writhe and die on our concrete verandah.
My brothers golfed cane toads
across our lawn, they still shoot
ducks and roos and run down
emus on outback roads.
Even now, I
sometimes have flashes
of unspeakable cruelty.