I
Driving through bush after rain:
muddy road, deep brown puddle-splash,
old man banksias and swamp mahogany,
and then a glimpse of ocean.
Sky moody blue and grey,
broken ocean slashed with white,
sand-surface pocked,
with loops
of tideline shells and footprints,
and scattered seaweed,
golden red, black, translucent buff.
Towards the south,
platform welcoming cormorants, tide and sky;
cow pat patterns
rocky outcrop,
crouched and lumpy,
registering an ancient past.
Ahead, a vast expanse of sand
towards a distant headland;
intriguing sandtracks climbing dunes
into the background bush and lowering clouds.
A figure perches on the rocky outcrop
rests
then stands against the sky.
Back at the road, a flat and open space
just asking for a tent
beside a sign that says “no camping”.
II
Towards the north
through flowering ti tree arched across the track,
a different scene:
cliffs of rock, not dunes,
niches
for stockpiled sand and tiny gardens.
Sand-slides fall in deltas,
a rocky creatures drags its spine,
towards the south;
jagged edges frame the sea.
A smooth expanse of slatey rock,
cross-sections through the cataclysmic folds
that show so clearly in the next cove round.
Waves come crashing in.
Northern vistas have to wait for
a lower tide.
III
Same beach, to the south
but
change the weather,
change the tide,
and there you have
a different beachscape,
watched over by a man aboard
a thrumming kite
and a scrutineer of rocks
in rounded tesselations,
green swathed.
