Stephanie Conn

swamp-dweller

More like a flock of cows or belching bulls
than growling frogs but these bright green bodies
leapt from the grey swamp, all flailing hind legs
and splayed toes; the gold paint splats on their backs
glinting in the Bass Strait light.
                                                   From open
water, the same repeated call, gurgling,
guttural, from a warted male, basking,
precious emerald, in the sun.
                                               Look beneath
the almost grin; a pale, yellow line, thin,
underlined in bronze, from nostril to eye,
running the full length of the hunkered squat
to the groin.
                   It is breeding season,
he’s growing dark at the throat,
growing spiked nuptial pads
on his unwebbed thumbs.

Stephanie Conn’s collection’s The Woman on the Other Side and Island are published by Doire Press. Her pamphlet Copeland’s Daughter won the Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition and is published by Smith/Doorstep. Stephanie is currently a PhD researcher at the University of Ulster. Find out more at stephanieconn.org/. Follow @StephanieConn2