An ending: the night falling, softly
indigo over Clontarf Beach.
Human activity roughed in, abstract:
inside the rim of winter — the two of us
moving slowly, and further distant
an old man, flying a box kite.
We navigate unseen forces, gain
ground and lose a little, holding fast to
familiar. The spigot of night turns
a little further, floods out the sand,
the vast dark of the ocean. The kite dips
and twists — stamps jellyfish angles
on the yawn of sky. Tectonics shift,
push the current of our transition,
all of it, invisible to the naked eye.
We own a forgettable middle distance.
Along the Hornibrook Bridge, lights
flicker and flare — metaphors for exits:
the bay, gathering silence in its lap,
the navy hospital folds of evening
tucking our loose ends into place,
cutting free our lengthening strings.
Vanessa Page is a Queensland poet. She has published four collections of poetry, including Confessional Box (Walleah Press) which was the winner of the 2013 Anne Elder Award. Her most recent collection is Tourniquet (Walleah Press) which was launched in Brisbane in 2018. Vanessa blogs at vanessapage.wordpress.com, where you can find reviews of her work and details of performances and publications.