Angophora, rusty-shelled
tree without a deep hold
but when its hill split,
this side root, jutting
out into sun glare
bent
and flowed down, tight
as mailbag wax, rain
year by drought year
to the new ground level
buttressing its trunk still
in high bush overhead
far
above blue roadbed
and palm-tree eruptions,
this pirouette of wood-
coated trouserleg, taller
than its many-buckled man.