The weather’s turned - again ! This time I know it’s my fault. Sorry. It has been so hot lately that I took the plunge and put away my winter clothes yesterday. After all, it was close to 30 degrees so I thought I would be safe. It was so warm at night that the cane toads were out in force. Great big lumbering monsters baring me from the outside world.
I always enjoy changing wardrobes. I discover clothes I’d totally forgotten so it’s almost like getting a new wardrobe. One of the benefits of getting older, I guess. Anyway, today it’s cold again, the toads are hiding but they reminded me of the news article which triggered the following poem

Evolution?
Pothole was a young ringer
working his way out west
eradicating the prickly pear,
an imported cacti pest.

The cactoblastis grubs,
introduced to eat the pear,
became a bigger problem -
sugar cane its favourite fare.

To stop the devastation
of important cash crop earners
the cane toad was suggested
by some scientific slow learners.

Cane toads over-run our state
from coast to western border,
ugly poisonous interloper
defying our natural order.

The cactoblastis has now gone,
prickly pear's an exotic fruit,
soon Pothole's prodigy will send
our toads to China, earning lots’a loot.
F.Mackay. 2010