DERBY MUDFLATS (EDGE OF THE WORLD, W.A.)
i am looking out across tidal mudflats/ on the
edge of the world/ into the long grey cloud &
low orange glowing of a derby sunset/ a desert
bauhinia clings to this edge & leans out over
nothingness/ protectively it covers territory/
but the western australian sun gets through &
strikes the dust rust red/ no crocodile will
reach this place/ no 1 a.m. tide reaching in
to suck the mudflat pollution out/ only tiny
sandflies sucking my blood & the end of dry
season wind gusting/ lifting up mudflat dust
into a drier lighter nothing/ & prickly ground
between each toe stabbing the hard skin/ this
place will get to me will drag all the past
sadness up out of me/ to be thrown overboard
to wind/ i dreamt of my mother dying/ & the
last thick clump of her auburn hair swimming
beneath the dust/ her body floating underneath/
her open mouth eating roots/ & my father's bones
closer to the ocean further out/ singing like
mosquitoes/ what will become of me/ when they
are gone?/ they are the source/ all i am goes
back into them/ my basic instincts keep me
hanging here/ the first star in the boab tree
branches hushing my grief/ as i come inching
towards this edge/ attaching to their mudflat
ankles like an anchor as they jump |
