Poem: There, in the Dunes

There, in the Dunes

There, in the dunes I pitched my tent

amongst strands of reeds and the sea’s night speech,

and there, on a dried-out creek bed in the desert,

the night sky cupping the world, parading its wares,

and there, on an island where winds unleashed themselves

and lighthouses warned of rocks,

and there, on a path in a gorge where rock walls towered,

where kangaroo feet drummed through sleep,

and there, in your heart I pitched my tent,

I breathed your presence, I fell asleep there and woke again,

some part of me remaining,

some part of me, once more, moving on.

Adelaide’s David Adès lives in Sydney where he hosts the WestWords Poets’ Corner podcast and is a member of the Pennant Hills Poets Group. He won the 2005 Wirra Wirra Vineyards Short Story Prize, 2014 University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize, and is a Pushcart Prize triple nominee. His poems have appeared in literary magazines in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe. His most recent books, all published last year, are The Heart’s Lush Gardens, The Toolmaker and Other Poems, and A Blink of Time’s Eye, from which today’s poem comes.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.