ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Maureen, this week's prompts took me on a fabulous mental journey ... back to childhood holidays at Noosa Heads (when it was a nice quiet place), family picnics on the beach ... and even (more recently) St Ives in Cornwall, where we were in serious danger of losing our Cornish pasties to the marauding seagulls!

But then I thought about something I heard Germaine Greer say in a TV interview ... that although she has travelled and lived all over the world, wherever she is, when she is asleep the skies in her dreams are always Australian skies.

So with all of that in mind ... here's my effort (and I have edited a couple of the prompts a little):

HOME
(c) Shelley Hansen 2015

There’s nothing so revealing as Australia at the beach
when lazy, hazy days of summer drift within our reach;
and so I headed off to spend a morning in the sun
and do a spot of people-watching – always good for fun!

The breeze was blowing gently, stirring up each sandy grain –
“This sand is blowing on my towel,” I heard one bloke complain.
Then while he shook it, flanked by sun and surf and “slip/slop/slap”,
a seagull pinched his fish and chips – then vanished with a flap!

A yellow polka dot bikini took the “fashion prize”,
despite its being sported by a lass of ample size!
Her boyfriend’s budgie smugglers bulged (I don’t know where I looked).
I wondered what they’d look like in another hour … cooked!

From high atop the headland I could see the Coast’s best break
and watch black-suited surfers rise and fall with swell and wake.
McTavish surfboards, side by side with classic Malibu –
about to redefine just what is meant by “shooting through”!

So, whether I’m in Rio or a tower in Dubai,
I close my eyes and dream about a cloudless Aussie sky.
The curling waves caress the sand and sprinkle it with foam,
till salt spray fills my senses with the memory of Home!

A typical Aussie beach scene immediately materialized before my eyes reading your poem Shelley - there are some great word pictures in there, the bulging budgie smugglers not one of them but I love this line -

McTavish surfboards, side by side with classic Malibu –
about to redefine just what is meant by “shooting through”

Terrific use of the prompts and a very enjoyable read.

Shelley wrote:There’s nothing so revealing as Australia at the beach

You're right there Shelley.

Yep, great word pictures!
By the way - I'll be up a tower in Dubai in January!

Yes, that certainly stirs up some memories, Shelley. And, where we live now on the Great Ocean Road, we're only a five-minute walk from cliffs overlooking Bass Strait and plenty of those "black-suited surfers" riding the swells.

Cheers
David

Brilliant Shelley - so true to life and brings back many memories and smiles !

Thank you everybody! Nothing like applying a generous dose of "poetic licence" to all those memories!!

Good on you, Wendy - I'll think of you in Dubai. At least you're doing the sensible thing and going in their winter. We did a three day stopover on our way to Britain in 2010, in July - right in the middle of 45 degree heat! Whew! At least it was dry heat, but boy, was it hot - especially with the long clothing required on a bus day-trip to Abu Dhabi! Worth it, though.

It is a place of contrasts - very much the "have" and "have not", but you can't change that. So if you take it at face value and accept it for what it is, you'll find it a truly fascinating place! Have lots of fun ... and watch out as you cross the road, because the close oncoming traffic comes from a different direction and it can be a trap for the first day!

Cheers, Shelley

My daughter lives there - my 2nd trip. My new Granddaughter arriving 30th Nov. Jen says that she doesn't think she can come back to Aus and leave her cleaner or her gardener or her car washing person behind. I know what you mean about the class differences. I really feel for the huge army of workers taking on the jobs no-one else there wants. Jen is not lazy but she said that if she didn't have a maid, there would be one more struggling mum without a job. I remember seeing the gardeners towing lawnmowers behind their pushbikes! I flew part way home last time with a Filipino lady who hadn't seen her kids for 6 months. She sent every penny she earned back home. It is how it is though and I am aware that sounds a bit unfeeling.

Not unfeeling, just having an awareness of how much their lives are different from ours. I know exactly what you mean. We had the same experience in Myanmar last year. The people in villages were poor but at least self-sufficient and happy - but the cities were places of sad and hopeless poverty. However they told us not to give money to the street-begging kids because they are trained to look cute and wistful, and the better they are at street begging, the longer their "employers" will keep them out of school.

I came home vowing never to take anything for granted again - but we forget as we slip back into the routine of our own comfortable lives. It does us good to be reminded.

Cheers
Shelley

Much better then being up that creek in a barbed wire canoe Wendy !



Bob