Over Shark Bay, Western Australia
The sea is a sea
nothing more, nothing less
but a glimmer of shore, beyond
a dawn bird
In response to Pic and a Word Challenge #225
Category: poetry
Reverie
Sunset, The Fascine, Carnarvon, Western Australia
Floating between sky and sea
on undulating waves,
this, my reverie
a dawn bird
Autumn Song
This is my first contribution to Fandango’s Friday Flashback. I like the idea of going back and reflecting on what one has written.
Being a leap year this year, tomorrow is the last day of summer.
It will be autumn on the 1st of March in the Southern Hemisphere. Last year I wrote this poem in anticipation of it.
Autumn Song
It was summer twenty four hours ago
my skin is still burnished brown
the dawn sun ignites a signal lamp
and spells in code,
slow down.
My girth is too wide for embrace
but where my wisdom is kept
I am matriarch
alive among sapling and dead wood
I am old, as I am young again
Come closer, yes, closer
lean in
hear my autumn song.
a dawn bird
In response to Fandango’s Friday Flashback – February 28
Photo a Week Challenge – Sleeping While you were sleeping …
Between Williams and Narrogin, Wheatbelt Region, Western Australia
Last night in the darkness
unable to sleep
I counted sheep
while you were sleeping
your heartbeat, mine
oh! that familiar rhythm
lulled my body
until next time
a dawn bird
In response to Photo a Week Challenge – Sleeping
Synchrony
Focused on the ebb and flow
he rode the waves
while I waited
at the edge
of the edge
of that sacred shore
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Saturday – Waiting
Memories are made of this …
Indian Hawthorne, in my garden
She wandered around the garden
filled with empty shrubs
when thoughts of him
caressed her face
warmed it
and her smile
bloomed like spring.
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Saturday – Spring
The love of a seagull
In that blip of time
when all stood still
at the edge of uncertainty
I felt a seismic shift
that left me reflecting on where I came from
and where I had been
and in that shattered space
there were no options left
but the watery path before me
In the ebb and flow that followed
the tides rolled in and out
and as they filled the void
I reached deep within and found
this briny water
despite the ferocity of the sun
is powered by the pale moon
with a strength that crushes stone to sand
so child-like I reached for it
I’m here to tell you,
this earth mother, took my hand
But it wasn’t enough
I rebelled again and again
I floated free,
tethered lightly to life and love
when I met a seagull,
just like me
“Reach deeper”, said the seagull
there’s more to memory, than debris
walk on any beach, you’ll find
on each grain of sand
a tome
where life’s script is re-written.
In my youth I grew old by the sea
now I am young in years
I know now what I didn’t know then
life starts where you want it to begin
and when the winds howl
at the edge,
I stand my ground, strong again
with sea for friend,
and the devoted seagull beside me.
a dawn bird
In response to Your Daily Word Prompt – Devote – February 1 2020
My heart beats, for you …
With my head on the pillow
I heard my heart beat, loud,
too loud, in the void
still warm from you
lulled by rhythm
of that glorious red
fountain of my being
I drifted forward, bold,
towards the dark
when the yearning, the reality,
that treacherous collaboration
took hold
and woke me from the nightmare
of being feasted on, while alive.
a dawn bird
In response to Word of the Day Challenge – Collaborate
A sure thing …
The touch was light
imperceptible, except to eye
as I watched him reach,
where battle lines were once drawn
he stopped awhile
and traced the scars
he didn’t ask how, where or why
I let him wander to the edge
his footfall hesitant,
picking his way through sticks and stones
at the juncture
he paused, and tested yield
and in my eyes
the path of least resistance
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Sunday – Wander
Lost in reverie …
The morning was warm,
the breeze soft
Beyond the back door, the garden
where I walked happily
when I caught a glimpse of him
in reverie …
Karijini National Park, Pilbara region, Western Australia
He was tall as a tree
and just as strong
with roots that ran deep,
underground
under my fingertips
his skin ridged and rough
entwined, his hands gnarled,
unlike mine
above ground
his eyes crinkled in sun, in smile
his veins blue, his blood earthy red
amid the midnight rustle,
the softest whisper, come closer
so on the bough I laid my head
a dawn bird
When Dawn breaks …
This year
your forever birthday is remembered again
So this morning I woke treading memories
Of where I’ve been
It’s been years
Yet sometimes it feels
I’ve moved on, a day
I wake most mornings alone
While others come and go
Where you once had been
Their warmth is now comforting,
It shouldn’t be, but it is
I’m learning to live guilt free
I recall wrestling with demons was exhausting
they came dressed in well meaning words from friends
in this journey,
life goes on, they said
I’ve found life is not a journey
just as well,
it would had ended long before now
but it didn’t,
somewhere my footsteps faltered
I’m glad they did
I found my home, a new home
to house my body and soul
It has no doors, no gates or windows
The breeze flows
I shut nothing out, nothing in
That’s where, each day, I begin
I reframed the journey,
that common metaphor, into a mirror
it had to be done for me to stand still, and face face
I seek joy in each day
Sometimes in moments like this
finding I now sit comfortably,
in that precarious place
side by side, with pain
And in that moment,
reality takes hold, with each passing day
Grief does not crush
to self, I am true
I am healed, open again
to be loved and to love deeply
Could I have been this brave
Had I not lost you?
a dawn bird
In response RDP – Monday – Daylight
Moon magic …
At midnight,
she laughs at the moon, bright as a sun
when his arm anchors her waist
and sets her alight
although she knows
they are poles apart
in mind and heart
yet her limbs yield
again and again
to the magnetic field
his touch
his taste
his eyes
a dawn bird
In response to Word of the Day Challenge – Lust
As the fires burn, breathe easy …
Carlton Ridge, Kununurra, Western Australia (aka The Sleeping Buddha or Elephant Rock, depending on the vantage).
Breathe easy
the industry pundits were right all along
the economy is booming
there’s more where this came from
the scientists got it wrong
after all, nature is forgiving. Nature heals itself.
Breathe easy
This is a natural cycle
The destruction, the change
It’s happened before
And will happen again
You see, we are The Believers
this is our God given right
we are The Chosen Ones
Breathe easy
we can do whatever we like
The forests are on fire!
Scorched earth all around!
You say, it’s click bait
your entitled tongue speaks Aussie vernacular
Yeah nah, breathe easy
She’ll be right, mate.
Breathe easy
you were in my thoughts and prayers
while I was away, the country burned
I returned eventually to shake your hand
it was the least I did for you
The truth is obvious
there is no elephant in the room
in a democracy, where every vote counts
at the ballot box we will breathe easy
as we end the lunacy of false prosperity.
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Friday – Breathe
When love came knocking …
Buried
I found lost treasure
this feather, perfect and free
left by an angel, for me
A message in sand
live life light
what falls away makes us free
you don’t need feathers in a hat
just wings,
that no one can see
this,
an epiphany, from an angel
when he left a feather for me.
a dawn bird
In response to Word of the Day Challenge – Knock
You don’t need arms to hug
You don’t need arms to hug
sometimes, words will do
a look, too, can be sufficient
or a touch, or text that says,
I’m here for you
A thoughtful gesture
is much like a hug
ordering my second coffee, for instance
without me asking you to
switching sides without complaining, when we sleep
you know I like facing the door
It’s just one of my quirks, we laugh
I’m always thankful, you’ve never asked me to explain more
How about the ordinary?
like a walk along the shore,
or explaining to me patiently, yet again,
the intricacies of that damned alternator, that cost a fortune to fix
Yes, I tell him
we don’t need arms to hug
sometimes words and gestures will do
because together or apart
We means, a me and a you.
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Saturday – Hugs
A Shared Space 
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