I am currently in the city of Darwin located in Australia's 'top end.' I am working with schools and presenting teacher workshops across this week. I enjoy working with these educators and have been privileged to work with them since 2014.
Today I present some poems that owe their origins to time spent in this tropical region where the wet and dry seasons impact lifestyle dramatically.
Prehistoric PredatorHe glides through the murky water
Eyes snap-locked on his prey
Silent assassin
Waiting for strike time
Waiting
Waiting
For that certain moment
He pounces
The water churns
Blood in his nostrils
Teeth in his prey
Death rolling fury
Away
Away
The victim drowns
The monster dines
Before gliding away
Ancient reptile
Calculating
Crocodile .
©Alan
j Wright
Against a clear blue sky curtain
Of a Darwin day
Black Kites flock
Soaring effortlessly
On the breezes of the dry
season
Twisting their forked tails
Dipping
Wheeling
Sky dancing
In a relentless search for
food
Birds of prey
Spending another day on the wing.
©Alan
j Wright
Big Dry
I stand under the eaves
Seeking salvation from the unrelenting sun.
Disturbed by the hot wind
Leaves
with hues of dry straw, swirl at my feet
Sounding faintly scratchy,
Brittle.
Dust scatters in puffs
Rising
Settling
On every available surface.
An eagle hovers,
Between the baked-earth land
And the blazing sun
Supreme against the cloudless sky.
Far off,
The horizon dances the shimmer
While an old brown dog
Lazes inside the shadow line beside the house.
Moisture is a stranger
In this bone dry world.
No dewdrops reside here.
The dry season
Parches everything,
Everyone.
This pitiless season
Sheds no tears.
I had a friend whose parents lived in Florida near a swamp. They had to be careful of the alligators coming up into their back lawn. It kept them very alert. Your description was a reminder that there are those who live with those dangers, and then the small ones who try hard to hide from eagles or hawks, try to survive where "no dewdrops reside). I am in that kind of land, unlike where I grew up. Our bare feet, early morning, do not get wet! Sounds as if you've having a lovely & interesting time, Alan!
ReplyDeleteThere are Florida parallels with Darwin Linda. I enjoy my visits to this tropical region and it's special characteristics. Wet season, dry season, amazing wildlife and great people.
DeleteWow, that's one ferocious crocodile!
ReplyDelete'Snapped' him on an earlier visit to Kakadu National Park Ruth. Prehistoric and amazing.
DeleteYou have really captured some of the contrasts, Allan. I like your title "The Big Dry" especially.
ReplyDeleteThanks Heidi. This region with its monsoonal seasons-wet and dry presents climatic challenges, but is also fascinating in its contrasts.
DeleteWhat an environment! You have really captured in image the crocodile, the bird of prey and the deadly dryness. I like the form of sparse but long narrow poems and it really suits these subjects. I hope you enjoyed your trip and your teaching.
ReplyDeleteThank you Janice. I find my find in this special, ancient place quite stimulating.
DeleteWhat a different environment you have captured in theses poems--such contrasts between the two worlds in the same place, but different times of year. I think I'll pass on that crocodile, but I would llove to watch the kites.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about different environments Kay. The distinct contrast between the wet and dry seasons sets this clear delineation up. The kites in the dry season are something to behold. The crocodiles require constant vigilance.
DeleteNice movement in your 'Black Kites Gathering" poem Alan! Love the way you painted the sky description "blue sky curtain," and the location works so well with the alliterating "D", "Of a Darwin day." And we feel the heat penetrating between the lines of "Big Dry." and in the title too. Great ending also with "This pitiless season/Sheds no tears." Thanks Alan!
ReplyDeleteThank you Michelle. Glad you appreciated my efforts to paint these contrasting scenes.
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