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I was colonel light
baptised in a rushing sea
the fish beneath me
the clouds above me
the silver shells that lose their shine in the air
the aquatics that populate colder southern waters
the marine creatures I had imagined would be there
I could breathe under that water
and I spoke to eels and the snakes
as I raced towards the surface my gills bursting with air
the sails were filled and we skimmed
the watery drops sang in my earrings
my fingers caught in their own webbing
and I went smashing across the waves
as the sea poured into my throat
and the salt entered my eyes
a delicious dimness then filled me
numb and alone
I saw a grey bird fly overhead
up in a sky that was stretched canvas across a horizon
the fishermen and the rocks
then something has hooked me and im being pulled along
you struggle against the hurt but the barb in your mouth
they let me run then they jerk me back
im being played on my own line
I land in the sand at the foot of the bed
the rain is inside and I sit up laughing
the watercolours are running down the wall
words are leaping out of the typewriter
the bass guitar is vibrating in its case angrily
a plane flies right over Coogee in the darkness
in my drowning dream where I struggle against the torrent
the backlash of a dam
the northwind tore the songs from my hand and cast them swirling away
a net contains me
I cannot save the whole world from sinking
they try to make me but I cannot go on
thats enough then they say
let him wake up they say
I look in the mirror but you never do
you never really wake up
you never really want to
I shrug my shoulders down on earth
I pull on an old coat like a ripple at a jetty
I see almost eternity in the dawn of another night
in the stones by the pools
in the song of the seal
in the memory of a lock
in the clutch of flowers
in some other language
some other sunday
where men wonder
and there is no release