by Janine Phillips
from the first sydney sunrise
morning sky, rainbow stretchin’
far and wide
i was embraced,
like a child coming home.
so familiar everything.
all i’d never seen before,
or smelled.
or tasted.
or touched.
sitting in a park,
melding.
lemon scented trees,
crooked limbs like fingers
beckoning me,
beckoning me.
parasailers overhead.
the tide beneath our wheels.
we raced along the waning shoreline
against the ever-reaching arm
of an invisible moon.
pawprints collected in the sand,
like seashells.
hot doggy breath in my ear.
token kiss came
with a long, wet tongue
along my cheek.
on bended knee i drew a crescent in the sand,
now a bit of me will remain forever.
wide-eyed, i watched
my new world unfold,
playing roles
in strangers’ lives.
learning fast
we aren’t strangers.
perhaps we never were.
souls joined together
never to go asunder.
the miracle of love:
the joy, the wonder.
adelaide sits like a funnel cake,
flora spreads like dusting sugar.
roads weaving strands of life
around and around and around.
magpies, macaws eye me as i greet the dawn.
their unfamiliar song filling the morning.
i call to the horses and they come.
brown eyes big and sad,
healing my twinge of homesickness.
by the way,
the Pacific Ocean really is
as breathtakingly blue
as everyone claims.
i dipped my toes in the raging froth
as waves broke
and scattered before my eyes.
cool waters reminded me
this is real.
on bended knee i drew a crescent in the sand
now a bit of me will remain forever.
“One Time I Saw Morning Come Home,”
perched on the edge of the world i watched
the Sun rise over North Head.
clouds parted like angels stretching their wings.
i thought i heard the morning Sun sing
as he smiled down at me.
i breathed the air,
morning mist filling my blood.
forever.
far below me the intensity of life
crashed against the shore.
if i’d taken root and became a bush
woven along the tapestry of the cliff
that would have suited me just fine.
the gold coast looked silver
as we stood in the surf and watched a rainbow
paint itself a complete arc
over the entire horizon.
even the misty rains felt like kisses,
smelled so sweet,
cooling, soothing, luring.
i heard them whisper my name.
i closed my eyes and turned away.
on bended knee i drew a crescent in the sand,
now a bit of me will remain forever.
connected without cables.
community.
hugs and grins
stripped of asterisks.
freedom’s haven
filled with hazy memories
surreal in the making.
laughter, the murmur of voices.
sight, smell. taste, touch.
i drank it all in
like smooth shots of tequila
slipping down my throat,
burning the memory
deep within me.
forever.
we go beyond a keyboard and monitor.
we really are real,
much more than bits and bytes.
that’s a given though.
i saw it in your eyes.
tiny towns tucked away
like whisps of hair behind my ear.
water spouts crash and appear
magically from a bouldered point.
huge sprays that claim lives
dance before me,
present me with a rainbow.
standing on a windblown beach,
further down the shore
i collect swirly pink and grey shells.
on bended knee i drew a crescent in the sand.
now a bit of me will remain forever.
a search for sustenance.
shooting pool in a gentleman’s club.
beginner’s luck crowned the afternoon.
a few beers later we part,
not sure if we’ll meet again.
at least in this lifetime.
like a rainbow built of steel and rock
sydney harbor bridge
brought me to the top
of the bottom of the world.
i stretched my arms wide
cupped the setting sun in my left palm,
a rising full moon in my right.
symmetry atop the city.
concrete mountain-like sentinels
paved the final pathway of my journey.
bits of lush green park, history piled
in bricks and stone. trees like small islands
too big to hug. i try anyway.
hanging like winged coconuts
bats nestled protectively
among fruit trees pocketed away
in the corner of metropolis.
poetry and coffee,
rainbows in the fountain.
sailing over manly blues.
awe captured in a bed of wildflowers,
the majesty of trees.
laughter flowed free,
late nights fighting sleep.
trying to cram it all in.
no worries, no worries.
below me, from the balcony,
another rainbow appears among the buildings-
a flag, fluttering in the wind.
a day in the mountains
up so high i felt heaven caress my cheek,
eucalyptus cleared my senses and i wept.
it rained that final morning
as i clung to the last vestiges of a dream.
time pushed me further away
and i drifted like the ebbing tide,
pulled away from my shore.
through the fogged window
i clicked the distant images.
a weeping city,
the tumultuous grey sea,
somber mountain lines.
we climbed above the clouds,
i felt the morning sun’s gentle kiss.
and i knew that somewhere
a rainbow spanned along the horizon
in one final farewell embrace.
Janina Grey 