Published in Overland Issue 217 Summer 2014 Uncategorized Foxes strung up on fence on Toodyay-Bindi Bindi Road: in the accusative John Kinsella On land cleared to a few trees you say you’re protecting native wildlife (but not kangaroos, because ‘they’re feral by any other definition’); you tell us that you’re a safe user of firearms, protecting lambs you’ll send to slaughter; you string foxes up on fences so the public can know what it’s like to fight for a cause, corpses of enemies piled high for the townsfolk to file past and know the cost of battle. The cost of the kill, pride in marksmanship, celebration and mateship. Your triumphs are the triumphs of ancient Rome, of death squads anywhere anytime; such a timeless occupation. Good thing there’s no bounty on animal libbers and greenies, as you might just be tempted to break the rule of robotics not to kill humans; for the general good, the cause. Foxes strung out on a fence show us you’ll stand up and be counted, O mighty warriors of the farmlands. We’ve known your spotlights probe into our houses at night. We live with that. We catch our breath and watch our words. The dead fox. The dead cat. The dead roo. The dead the dead the dead. John Kinsella John Kinsella’s new work includes the story collection Pushing Back (Transit Lounge, 2021), Saussure's Kaleidoscope Graphology Drawing-Poems (Five Islands Press/Apothecary Archive, 2021) and The Ascension of Sheep: Collected Poems Volume 1 (UWAP, 2022). More by John Kinsella Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays First published in Overland Issue 228 7 February 2023 Aboriginal Australia Victoria police back down, is this a case for defunding? Crystal McKinnon and Meriki Onus After three arduous years, Victoria Police have today withdrawn their charges against two organisers of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest. Whilst we welcome their decision, we note that their mediocrity gave them no other option. Emboldened by their state-sanctioned impunity, Victoria Police’s ineptitude hit a dead end. Pigs cannot fly. First published in Overland Issue 228 6 February 20237 February 2023 Aboriginal Australia Winaga-li Gunimaa Gali: listen, hear, think, understand from our sacred Mother Earth and our Water Winaga-li Gunimaa Gali Collective To winaga-li, Gomeroi/Kamilaroi people must be able to access Gunimaa. They must be able to connect and re-connect. Over 160 years of colonisation has privileged intensive agriculture, grazing and heavily extractive water management regimes, enabled by imposed property regimes and governance systems. Gunimaa and Gali still experience the violent repercussions of these processes, including current climate changes which are exacerbating impacts, as droughts become longer, floods and heat extremes become more intense, and climatic zones shift, impacting on species’ viability and biodiversity.