Did you hear they’ve hanged Ned Kelly

He sighed in the giant’s ear
smithed a carapace intact
came out of the cocoon
his wings unpinned

at Jerilderie he tasted stars

holding his boots close
against the cell door
he could see only dark
until they stretched him out

and he became something else

‘Walking Through Fences’ p 36. Flying Island Books ASM&Cerberus 2018.
Painting Ned Kelly series, Sidney Nolan, 1946