What remains

What remains

of anthropic daydreams,

for peace, leisure

and contemplation.

What remains

instead; this temporal yoke

bearing, disregards of the day

and other timely aberrations.

Tidal Flats

mud, sludge, slime, our plans awry

as yon cool, clear depths beckon,

we try and we try, to escape the squelching clod;

as muds tenacious stickiness embalms, to now reckon.

mud, sludge, slime, sprite yet slow to rally

against this steadfast embrace; we sink, we fall,

muddying boundaries ‘tween childhood and youthful folly,

heartened, hardened, we rise as earthen statues, we learn to stand tall.

©jenniferwhite2015

      

Interiors

I take the walk to be the externalisation of an interior seeking so that the analogy is first of all between the external and the internal

A.R. Ammons

as the weeks pass I realise I have adjusted my gaze outwards…i gaze towards the horizon.  i watch the tidal patterns ebb and flow, i search for small treasures of cobbled glass or driftwood deposited on the sand by receding tides. i register my neighbours comings and goings on the bay, the daily visits by our dashing ducklings sporting smart downy jackets. i spy the sandy imprints of the bush turkey and wallabies early morning sojourn.

however the bushland beckons… natures ephemeral choir of koel cries transcend the surging cicada chorus and i am forced to look towards the interior. i wander along the rivers edge until i find a foothold in the vertical swathe of bushland and steadily climb upwards towards the interior ridge. i scrape and scramble; artlessly evading sleepy pythons and unwanted sticky spider shrouds. i whirl and ward off warrior attacks from wasps and winged bull-ants and search the interiors…high, amidst lonely old settlements on the ridge, i am told a small stream pools on the flattened sandstone bed. so i follow crunchy salmon bark peels and squints of watery sparkle and within the inviting cool shallows tinted by the leaching rusty gumminess of the surrounding angophoras, i finally find calm.

 i am left feeling complete and worth all token discomforts, scrapes and bites 🙂