BOOK #3: On the Tide, 2010

edition 15

On the Tide, 2010_poem & photographs of washed-up fishing ropes taken on Discovery Bay south-west Victoria 6 – 8pm 3/2/2010. Digital images printed on Museo 100% cotton 250gsm acid free paper
Portland Victoria Australia.

ON THE TIDE

The tide pushes onto the beach
Pushes with its foamy fists and fingers
Nudging the lost, the unwanted, the floating
Away
Up onto the sand.

And on the tide they come
In knots and tangles and hair-like strands
Or spun into eggs (not for hatching).
Fishing lines, fishing ropes
Imposters
Mimicking entangled seaweeds
In colors competing for attention
Embedded in sand
Resisting the suck of the retreating tide.

Sea birds come to check and peck
Questioning
Footprints encircling
These weeds from the deep
Brought in on the tide.

Carmel Wallace 2010