LIVEABLE RISK
There was a care that went with doing things
tight ropes can rip off fingers
hold tight and keep your fingers free
for shifts in the wind
>
A wave knocks you over
for walking without respect
for the fall and rise
of gravity on the swell
unless you walk leaning on bending knees
the balance always shifting
>
Though you might think you’d fall overboard more
It only happened once
And then on a river
so my guard was down and I was five
valuing my stuffed toy duck enough to reach over for it
but slipping instead
into the flow of the Bundaberg river
and my mum jumping after couldn’t swim anyway
so we hung off the back ‘til dad came and hauled us out
>
WHAT THE SEA KEPT
>
Whole folders of photos were lost
to the salt on the spray
of the occasional random wave
that mocked all careful efforts
to preserve the minute details of our trip
>
Lost were the conversation pieces
the forgotten neatness of days
the regular dates and the odd admission
‘I can’t remember who this is’
all the pieces between memories are missing
Salty angular depth and beauty. I love these poems