Having swum in the ocean of stars
calling them Gods—their campfires, their monumental
sorrows, our bliss at a faith-conceived heaven—
we are driven back by heavy gales.
*
Few living creatures inhabit these broad
flat-bottomed valleys, abode of kingfishers
grass-hoppers, lizards—not much else
a ruined fort in a dull brown landscape.
*
Relief to find a small stream threading
clefts of rock, greening, here and there,
otherwise barren soil. Onwards then, to a flat plain
stunted acacias—until a flock of guinea fowl.
*
Anxious panorama of time: jagged cliffs,
lava-rock, distant mountains enveloped in
dark blue clouds. It’s coming: the storm
of the modern. The monkey likes bananas.
*
I’m collecting dust: the air is ion charged,
flashes of lightning, the will to see
the infusoria: African sunsets, the question
of microbes, my lens, my imperfect vision.
*
And then another island—fertile, volcanic
red cinder hills, everything slopes toward the
interior. But I will paddle the rock pools
notice: sea slugs, cuttle-fish all arms and suckers.
*
Having swum in the ocean of stars
we are driven back by heavy gales
It’s coming, the storm of the modern,
anxious panorama of time.
*
The air is ion charged.
***
Ian Irvine is an Australian-based poet/lyricist, fiction writer and non-fiction writer. His work has featured in many Australian and international publications, including Fire (UK) ‘Anthology of 20th Century and Contemporary Poets,’ (2008) which contained the work of poets from over 60 nations.His work has also appeared in a number of Australian national poetry anthologies, and he is the author of three books and co-editor of many more (including Scintillae 2012, an anthology of work by over 50 Victorian and international writers and poets). He currently teaches writing and literature at Bendigo TAFE and Victoria University (Melbourne) and lives with fellow writer Sue King-Smith and their children on a 5 acre block near Bendigo, Australia.
Links related to his work are as follows:
robin@artvilla.com
www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
