From Traffic cop
At Ringwood
'Hey buddy
-Max Richards
-You Pinocchio
I am quietly
reading this!'
Cheers thanks Patrick and Janet
-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Max Richards
Sent: 01 November 2011 21:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: snap: from port melbourne to portsea
From Port Melbourne to Portsea
(for Patrick and Janet)
A sub! moored at Station Pier!
black, whale-like and bulbous,
harpooned by ensign and flag -
HMAS De Chaineux (after
a World War Two hero) - ominous,
sinister protector -
but from what danger?
Russia? China?
Japanese whaler?
Drive on, shall we? past St Kilda's
busyness, moneyed marinas,
Brighton's posh mansions.
At Ricketts Point pause, snap
two black swans grooming;
each has a numbered neck.
Push on south
beyond the rail commuters,
past Mounts Martha
and Eliza and Arthur's
Seat, down the Peninsula*
to the beach at Dromana.
She, my squeeze,
can snooze
while we cruise.
The next village,
going by the signage,
will be Tootgarook.
Is that the place where
in the old rhyme,
things were crook?
No, that was
(if memory serves)
Tallarook,
many miles in the
other direction.
Pushing on,
through Blairgowrie -
before dusk I mean
to reach Point Nepean.
But - uno momento -
we hit Sorrento
and its shopping drag,
Geppetto's tempting
puppet shop with so
much more than Pinocchios,
beguiles the afternoon.
The road beyond soon
offers surf beach signs
and lo, the ocean!
Is this the one
where once the nation's
Prime Minister walked
into the surf never
to be seen again?
No, but it's not far.**
Surf beaches all look lethal,
fatal. Stay in the car.
Chuckle at the old canard
that Harold Holt swam
to a Chinese sub and climbed aboard!***
And save for another day
Point Nepean
and some sheltered bay.
Or time it right, drive
onto the ferry
crossing near the scary
Rip over to Queenscliff
and the Peninsula****
we mostly favour.
Meantime head back north
by the new tollway
towards Ringwood
where a lurking cop car
snaps me speeding somewhat
over the limit.
Ah, things are crook!
a sedate drive and I'm booked.
But the car being hers,
the demerit point and fine
will be hers too, unless
she tells them they are mine.
At the risk of my nose
lengthening like Pinocchio's,
I'll go for the lies.
*Mornington
**Cheviot Beach
***http://www.harold-holt.net/chinese.htm
****Bellarine
Max Richards
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