sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Lockdown Dolphins

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Greetings from lockdown.  In Western Australia we are on day 2 of a five day snap  Covid 19 lockdown.

I am lucky enough to  have the best beach in the world (imho) at the end of my street and, with one hour of exercise outside the home allowed each day, you might guess where I would exercise. And, this morning, I was extra lucky to have an amazing dolphin encounter while I walked.  A pod of dolphins just a few metres off shore, flipping and splashing and even some leaps. There was at least one baby dolphin  (calf) in the group, and I suspect some teaching was happening. Amazing!

Back home, I shared some snippets on my personal Facebook and Instagram accounts, but later, I decided to splice them together into one video. Here then, if you need some beach peace – or some dolphin excitement – is what I saw:

I’m still smiling when  I think of my morning.  Wherever you are in the world, and especially if you, too, are in lockdown, I hope this dolphin magic makes you smile, too.

Poetry Friday: Walking the Dolphins

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Every Friday I have to drop my son at work very early. this is a good excuse for me to have an early morning beach walk – usually at my favourite dolphin-spotting beach. The dolphins dictate how far I walk, because if there are no dolphins (which is rare) I just walk the length of the beach and turn around again. But if they’re there, I tend to walk further, but will change my direction regularly so I can keep them in sight and find it hard to leave the beach while there are dolphins in sight. After these walks I often tell my family I’ve been ‘walking the dolphins’ and, of course, this has lead to a poem.

 

Look closely – there are two dolphins INSIDE the wave, having a ride.

Walking the Dolphins

Some people like to walk their dogs

I see them in the park

From early in the morning

Until late, long after dark.

 

Some dogs on leads; others romp

Or fetch a stick or ball

Some owners watch their dogs from seats

Not walking much at all.

 

Me? I walk the dolphins

The pooches of the sea

Up and down the beach I go

And dolphins follow me

 

I’m on the sand, they’re further out

But I watch them swim and play

Some times they jump and flap about

And sometimes gently sway

 

I hardly note how far I’ve walked

Up and down the shore

Watching cetaceous friends cavort

Just leaves me wanting more

 

And later on it comes to me

As I turn back from the sea

It’s not me that’s been walking them

But they that have walked me.

 

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy 2017)

 

In case you you haven’t seen it before, here’s my favourite bit of video of one of ‘my’ dolphins coming closer to say hello.

 

Have a great Friday. Today’s Poetry Friday Round Up is hosted by Karen Edmisten. SO, to read lots more poetry goodness, head over there.

Poetry Friday: Summer Smells

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It’s Friday, which means it’s time for Poetry Friday – the first one for 2017 and my first one for a while, having had a busy end to 2016. My resolution for 2017 is to smile more, but I’m also thinking this means I should be trying to make other people smile, so I am going to try to share more poetry this year.

It’s Summer here in Australia, which means trips to the beach, swims in the pool, beautiful blue skies – I could go on. I love summer. But one thing I don’t like is the smell of rubbish bins left out in the sun. On one of my recent beach trips I stopped to put something in the bin. The smell when I lifted the lid was gross: bait, food, rubbish of all kinds. It was like the worst belch ever. It reminded me of this poem, which I wrote a few years back.

Smelly Sentry

Green soldier
standing tall
and alone.
Closed up
you seem so harmless
but still
I approach with caution.
I know
when I lift that lid
your stench
will overpower me
as you belch
last week’s fish
and yesterday’s onions.

 

(Copyright Sally Murphy 2017)

 

Gross hey? Instead of a photo of a stinky bin, I offer you this completely unrelated but pretty awesome video of a dolphin which came to check me out recently. It was a magic moment.

Poetry Friday this week is hosted by Teacher Dance. Head there later for the roundup check out the other poetry goodness on off on the blogosphere.

In the meantime, have a great Friday.

 

Poetry Friday: Dolphins

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I’ve spent a lot of time walking lately, and have several favourite places where I can walk and watch dolphins at the same time. One of them is a place called The Cut, where the Australiand estuary meets the Indian Ocean. When I was there a few days ago there were at least a dozen dolphins, busily fishing, and also catching the waves that were breaking just off the end of the cut. I drafted a poem in my head as I walked, at the same time I tried (not very succesfully) to capture what I was seeing with my phone camera. Unfortunately, the phone just can’t zoom enough to really do justice to the magic happening on the water – and the dolphins, when they jump, don’t let you know in advance so you can get your timing right 🙂 Still, I thought I might match the poem with some of my shots.

At The Cut

So many dolphins

Dolphins at Cut

You can see them right? About three in this shot.

catching fish

They splash and froth while they're fishing. Cool to watch.

They splash and froth while they’re fishing. Cool to watch.

catching waves

Look closely - there are two dolphins INSIDE the wave, having a ride.

Look closely – there are two dolphins INSIDE the wave, having a ride.

catching air.

(If you watch right to the end you’ll see the dolphin jump out of the wave)

And me,

on the beach,

catching my breath

Cut Selfie

as I try to catch it all

on camera.

I tried and tried to et a selfie with dolphins in the background. But every time I clicked they dived.

I tried and tried to get a selfie with dolphins in the background. But every time I clicked they dived.

 

And here’s the poem without all the interruptions:

At The Cut

So many dolphins

catching fish

catching waves

catching air.

And me,

on the beach,

catching my breath

as I try to catch it all

on camera.

(Sally Murphy, 2016)

 

Happy Poetry Friday. The roundup this week is hosted by Carol at Carol’s Corner.

Poetry Friday: Dolphin and Me

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Yesterday, I went for a quick walk on my local beach. Only, it didn’t end up being a quick walk at all, because I spent more than an hour watching a pod of dolphins play, and fish and splash just off shore.

I tried to get some footage on my phone, and while it’s not great, you can see a snippet of what I saw – and hear my exclamations.

 

Afterwards, I tried to capture the feeling I had, on an otherwise empty beach, that the dolphins knew I was there and were entertaining me.

 

Dolphin and Me

A tail

A fin

A splash

A jump

A wave?

 

A smile

A gasp

A camera click

A sigh

A wave.

 

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy, 2016)

 

Today’s Poetry Friday roundup is hosted by Irene at Live Your Poem. Head over there to see what other poetry goodness is on offer around the blogosphere.