Tim Metcalf

Dotterel

Sea-weed seed pods
dot the sand, one dot far off
but approaching now
hesitant,
asking
would I care for a stroll
along the long irrelevant strand?

So that you can spring into the wind and fly
back to the beginning?
No thanks, I'll stay where I am.
I no longer believe
we share the same centre.

You scribble prints in sand:
deceptive ellipticals,
detailed footnotes to delay my search
for the focus of attention.
Audacious bird!
I will not be shaken.

I know this scheme:
your part is to trace a path away
through dead kelp strewn
between the chaos of the waves
and some solution:
not you,
not I,
not the dune grass;
but something close,
around here

there!
The egg!

Tim Metcalf has studied medicine and literature. His first book Corvus will be released by Ginninderra Press in October.

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