Swimming and burbling

This poem was published by Southern Cross University in the Coastlines 6 collection. I also gave a live reading of the poem at a uni meeting. When I find that (again), I’ll add it to the site.

The forlorn old running river

Driving windward, lost and found

Cockles, whelks and winkles

A riparian pastoral paradise  

Is it a freshet or a brook?

Is it a rivulet or a rill?

Sandflies and mosquitoes

Flit, flutter, fluster, confound  

A rainy afternoon in autumn

A frog remains cryptic

Splayed feet, webbed toes

Praying on the sessile and slow-moving  

Play the panpipes as the fish jump

In my freshet, brook or rill

A hidden corner, a romantic grotto

Toads squatting in the rain  

What the frogs have found

The toads have forever lost

Algae blue and algae green

Swimming and burbling, making merry and sad

floral-splendour