Marilyn Humbert
The Chase
It’s a dry, cold day. Wind is blowing from the west. Our lakes are slowly shrinking. Every year we move further north to fish and hunt kangaroo and emu. We follow tracks of the family who left the day before in the damp clay. Father, lean, muscled, 6.5 feet tall takes off running in long loping strides. Uncle and brother follow spears poised. Father throws and misses. His spear skids in the mud. He continues running scooping up his weapon and throws again. This time the ‘roo falls and is killed. Today we will have meat to eat.
Lake Mungo preserved beneath sand a story from the past
Author’s Notes: Lake Mungo in Mungo National Park is part of the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area in south west NSW Australia. In 2003 tracks of our earliest inhabitants, hunting 20,000 years ago, were discovered preserved in the clay pans of the Park.
About the Author
Marilyn Humbert lives in the Northern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Her tanka and haiku appear in international and Australian journals, anthologies and online. Her free verse poems have been awarded prizes in competitions, published online and in anthologies.
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