For a time

you could spy 

a true-blue couch 

lodged halfway up

a cliff

a landmark

likely dumped 

by drunken teens

lugging it down 

the avenue

stumbling to

the lookout 

then fumbling it over

the fence

rolling about with 

kookaburra 

laughter as the

couch goes 

tumbling

head 

over 

head 

over 

head


Let's be 

honest

bird's nest 

insulation

an exception

the uses for 

a couch 

wedged on 

a cliff face

goes steadily 

downhill 

You can't exactly

Netflix and chill

Too dangerous

for Rangers to extract

it remains an 

abstraction

with the embankment 

nurturing every fold

and crease 

Slowly slipping

each rainfall to 

the sound of the 

Grey Butcherbird 

call

the couch 

slouches

wrinkles 

swells

stiffens 

warps

rusts

stains 

and runs

becomes brittle

cracked 

and mouldy 

Isolated 

lonely 

dreaming past 

days of rest and 

relaxation 


daylight nappers

tucked away lolly 

wrappers 

drifting couch 

surfers

TV dinners

pizzas 

burgers


More rain

and the couch  

lurches 

from weeds 

and vegetation 

The Rangers 

dutifully come 

to meet it

in the gully 


It weighs a ton


When pulled apart 

its inferior interior 

stinks to high 

heaven 

of mothballs 

and old socks

Displaced once more

another move is on

They break its back

rip its rotting sides 

carry it out in pieces

In the space of half 

an hour 

the couch

is gone

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Rest and Relaxation