Art Class on Observatory Hill, Sydney

Here, the sea’s bowl ̶

the harbour with still, white boats

and coloured flags ̶ a Dufy carnival,

lines crisscrossing, the arch of the bridge

against roofs of scattered houses, shops.

It is afternoon, late summer ̶

how the promise of ships lies lazily

across the myriad bays

reaching as far as eye can see.

The landscape-class, easels set up

have it leisurely before them.

Their canvasses reflect this bluest of light

where the tutor’s words float like gulls

wheeling in and out among Moreton Bay figs.

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South Beach

This is the dangerous time, sky clouding:

lifesavers on the alert, intermittently moving the flags,

shoals of swimmers still keening the fray.

Only a narrow stretch of ocean left now

between the signposts, the spume growing wilder

lifting more boldly – you imagine yourself drawn in,

tugged all ways past the horizon.

Isn’t it enough just to be here on this ivory sand

watching breakers curl against clouds darkening, still far out,

spellbound by the limitless, the reach of coast?

Six o’clock now, the show’s closing down.

A few paragliders swoop in

while children put final touches to their sandcastle.

Soon they’ll carry water to the moat.

©Katherine Gallagher2010

(from Carnival Edge: New & Selected Poems, Arc Publications, 2010)