Selected poems
Dragonfly season
Mottled moon, egg-shaped,
in a sky baby blue.
Easter Friday,
dragonfly season.
I swim laps, backstroke.
My hands, arms are oars
of this lifeboat.
The ceiling is a patchwork
of grey-white like dragonfly wings.
As I swim I see a dragonfly cocooned
within these walls between ceiling and lagoon.
I metamorphose,
emerge from darkness.
The dragonfly
Japanese sign of courage
strength and
wellbeing.
Lost patience
Knowing how to wait
for fruit to ripen.
Seeding, hoping for harvest.
Training children to
maturation so they become
contributing citizens.
Learning new skills
and gaining mastery.
Practicing, making mistakes
but keeping active.
Progressing, continuing the
cycle to completion.
Everything is instant.
We have lost the rhythm
of perseverance.
Neighbour
I look across the fence,
see the Hills Hoist skeletal
stripped of that which clothes our flesh.
When you are on holiday
I note your return when
the skeleton is reborn.
Now your absence has permanence.
Over-the-fence parleys are past.
No lifting of children to peep
beyond the boundary to greet.
No sounds of domesticity
like the washing machine
thrumming, your child laughing.
Now, on the line, birds chatter.
I'm bereft of comfort craving
your presence and the daily
observance of liturgies
belonging to stay-at-home mums.
Visits discussing incidentals of rearing.
Adult conversation while the children frolic.
The confidence that I am not mothering alone.
Communion my soul seeks
that gives life to my bones.
Wave Rock Hyden
We climb the wave —
a gesture of greeting or farewell?
Lichen niches embedded
with carnivorous plants —
gargoyles with hooked noses.
Mini-canyons make stone puzzle pieces
placed to perfection.
We walk to Hippo's Yawn tafone:
Crushed from within by salts —
halite and gypsum sourced
from northern lakes.
We tread the path through fountains of grass,
Rock Sheoaks and grasstrees,
mostly cleared York Gums,
symbols of fertility.
Movements of time —
Farewell to ancient granite.
Greetings to gleaming streams and
striating ribbons of colour.
Cycling rhythms of eternity.
Deanne Davies lives in the regional city of Geraldton, WA with her husband, two children and dog. An award-winning poet, her poems have appeared in Verandah, Arena and Eureka Street. Deanne is passionate about spirituality and environmental and social justice and has strong interests in history, literature and science fiction.