Jam Tree Gully

In this daring new collection, Australia's preeminent environmental poet confronts the legacy of Thoreau's Walden. With Walden as his inspiration, John Kinsella moved with his family back to rural Australia, where he wrote the poems in this original collection exploring the nature of our responsibility and connection to the land.



from "We Spend Days in This House"



     We spend days in this house but not nights.



     We have seen the early morning sunlight



     infiltrate the eucalypts, sunset deflected



     by acacias. We have sweltered at midday.



     We have walked every acre intimately.



     The kangaroos recognise us and linger.



     We spend days in this house but not nights.