What if?

Two soothsayers
Cureall for one another's
Heart-rending pain
You light up my face
Laughter fills the space
Inside my haunted places
While I, humbly now
Know my way around
Herbs and potions
In the kitchen
Feeling your hunger
Like an affliction
Aches like shell bones
Lying on weathered stones
Muscles and sinew
Melt at the touch
Waves wash over you
Under the spell
Of our lips
Tide is in

Whispers

Spending my days
Writing to ghosts
Of my past
Asking them to
Reveal themselves
Materialise before eyes
But they refuse
Thump, thud, voices
In the night
All contrived
By my mind and heart
Convinced I don't live
In this world alone
Colonies of tall trees
To sea grasses swaying
On movement of ocean breeze
Salt spray dries
Salty tears
Unfathomable depths
Overcome latent fears
Echoes of waves
Lap at my back, soothingly
Whisper to mine ears
You are never alone
In the natural world
Banksia serrata

In plain sight

Smooth places made
Turbulent
Delighted smiles turned
Strained
Vulnerability is
Compromised
Intelligence used to
Detonate
Childlike innocence
Smothered
Wisdom sown
Uprooted
Voice of justice
Silenced
Creative forces
Unglued
Elders presence
Ghosted
Protest voices
Dispersed

Shed a tear
For all the years
Silence
Made things worse
Bellerive quay, Tasmania

Christmas miracles

Each year I gift myself
A new year calendar
Full of native flora
From my chosen homeland
To tempt myself
To go out and explore
To fill each day
An unwritten space
With wonder

A plastic Christmas tree
Or ailing pine struck
From side of road
Does nothing for me
Summer draws you out to
Parade through tracks
Winding into hidden
Vales to find
Berries and blossoms
Winged creatures calling
You into the forest
A place of miracles
Magical moments
Cyathodes glauca, Purple Cheeseberry, kunanyi / Mt Wellington Tasmania

Tis the strangest season

Creating new traditions 
Out of thin air
For clues I peruse
A loved one's mother's
Poetry book
Counting down the days
Till Santa's sleigh
In haiku
Tickled pink my toes
Wriggle in bed
Family stories never told
I buy the books instead
Family of fungi at Russell Falls, Mt Field National Park, Tasmania

Sacramento

There's a time not so long ago
It still plays in my mind
Like the little girl who giggled
Hung her monkey arms around
Your neck and made you laugh and smile so much
Across the crowded venue
Now the size of an adult
She sits squarely at me and stares
Just like my girl does
I stared back too
Masks up to our eyes
What does she want to know?
A silent reply
Yes, I love her too

Moments like these can be found on the brink of never after
They live on as an image that can never be erased
Come what may
Artist: Lucienne Rickard, ecology studies. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

https://www.detached.com.au/ecology-studies