Coral Sea Dreaming
floating
in 4 dimensions
all blue
waiting
and then
a gentle soul
flaps quietly
held suspended
by a sea of salt
and imagination
Tag: Cairns
sunset at Spot X
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
sunset at Spot X
clouds split sun to beams
of heavy late afternoon light
just like the cover
of a Christian rock album
she says
someone’s trying to tell
someone something
are you listening?
Bruce Highway
Bruce Highway
blue to port
starboard, green
charcoal grey road
rolls out into hill
we follow the dash dash dash
line south
looking for roos
dodging the heat
learning new names
for what might be next
hammerhead
hammerhead
strolling on the tame paved Esplanade
late on an empty Monday morning
we eye a pole flexing
with the tell-tale wiggle of fish
and the man in black
with an unkempt white beard
racing to grab the rod
we pause to see
whether he’ll land it
and sure enough
the line drags heavy on the sand
with the fish’s pull
but, no, it’s not –
this shape is all angles
sharp tail
and misshapen face
we all gasp in horror
then recognition
shark
not only that but
hammerhead
the eyes like afterthoughts
on metastasized lumps of face
the mouth when the man flips the creature over
a half-moon of needles
begging to prick
but the skin feels
surprisingly smooth calm reasonable
innocent
it’s a baby
a few weeks old
and he can’t heave it
back into the aqua of Trinity Bay
too soon for my suddenly squeamish taste
fluency
fluency
at the rental car counter
English gushes from the Kiwi clerk’s
young, witty, unpretentious lips
and within seconds
she grasps our situation
anticipates what we’ll say next
banters, poses questions
sizes up our promotional brochure needs
and sends us on our way
with bubbly brisk efficiency
while we blink mutely
realizing how impoverished
our speech has been for months
(our fault, not learning Tok Ples
as they say in PNG)
and we stand stunned by what can be said
when you share a mother tongue
priorities
priorities
sadly no superhero
tonight I carve out hours
in the blue-black dark
searching for a living reef
with nesting birds
a responsible skipper
adequate shade
and a tiny pricetag
and tomorrow I still won’t have
six-pack abs
