It’s a kind of pink-headed
miracle, this school
of fin-less fish, this hairy
lycra-ed swarm. One that
believes in the safety
of herds, in the buoyancy
of salts, and in the shelter
of millionaires’ coves.

There’s an urge to clump;
an over-ride
to the land-born’s
thirst for shore – yet

something tugs this frothing web
to float it home. Conceals
the slough of tell-tale tails
in sea-grass caves; they whisper

old secrets (those ones
still traded in tongues).

Helen Thurloe

 

Helen Thurloe is a Sydney writer. Her poems have won national awards, and appear in several anthologies. Her first novel, Promising Azra, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2016.

© 2019