Competition
2006 Winners
Joy Chambers & Reg Grundy Award – Open Local Poetry
Prodigal
by Sue Bailey
Soaking up the Pacific’s rhythm,
and overcome by some truant urge,
we sought our souls
across these parcels
of marching blue foam.
But now, caught in the warmth
of sun's final afterglow,
our last landfall
approaches fast
through straining shrouds
and creaking teak:
the Glasshouses,
an almost forgotten silhouette
create an ache,
a sense of loss behind us,
all those churned
and nervous, happy sea miles -
a world of peace,
until now,
on our bow
the strange insanity ,
the mixed up feelings of home.
We gaze unsure
upon this last compass course
and draw a long
and searching breath,
enjoying this final simplicity,
this last act of defiance,
a climax
in the distillation of the salt.
