Venus Bay, New Year’s Day

we drive over to your sister’s
on a day shiny and crisp
as porcelain
the tide wild
in a thousand Hokusai
the flags only metres apart
zinced oiled kids slosh around
sea line hallucinates
big frog clouds blurp horizons
my heart is awash
like our first kiss
I was too shy to give
a ring in tern
among the gulls
all one flight
when the eagle passes
Greek Indian Italian nights
ten dollars plus trivia
Mark bellows Hey Brother
a voice you can hear
all the way to Croatia
an elder has a stick
joyful bevies of children run
skittish Christmas lights
splashing away of parents
teenagers baulk time
an afternoon shakes free
the sun a gentle underline

First published in Unstill Mosaics 2019