Ruth Shteinman
Fig in the Moonlight

400m recycled t shirt yarn, 75m wool, 250m cotton rope, 80m velvet and felt yarn, stoneware tiles
120 x 130cm

I am one hundred and twenty years old Known 1484 moons and 43,800 dawns I saw you come and play and perch on my sturdy roots Hide in my crevices In the caves of my columns Your houses and cities beyond my low-lying branches Most days I do not comprehend what concerns you so I drink and grow and shelter many I am visited by The Cuckoo-shrikes seeking figs Rainbow Lorikeets of an afternoon Interrupted by the arguing pied currawongs as they feast In the night Grey-headed flying foxes shriek and chitter Ringtail possums tickling tracks along my branches I am their highway in the sky The fig wasps are my partners - without them I cannot survive Flowers in my fruit are their babymaking beds They in turn pollinate my blooms The passing wind breathes warmth and words 'Thus let me live, unseen, unknown'‘