sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday: Pelicans and More

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It’s Poetry Friday, at the end of another busy week for me.

I started the week with a writing retreat at Rottnest Island, a beautiful island off the coast of Western Australia. As well as getting some writing done, and having fun with my fellow retreaters (all members of SCBWI), I did a lot of walking, exploring the island and admiring the views and the amazing wildlife. Although the quokka – a small marsupial – is perhaps the cutest and best known animal resident – I was particularly taken with the pelicans, and walked up the beach following this pair as they paddled and fished in the shallows.

Which reminded me that I haven’t yet shared the poem which I have in the newly released Our Home Is Dirt By Sea, a collection of Australian poems for Australian kids, edited by Dianne Bates and published by Walker Books.

The poem which I contributed is called Paraphernalia.

 

Paraphernalia

 

At dawn or dusk

I trudge

cross sandy shore

with rod and reel

bait and bucket

tackle box

knife

and board,

hoping to catch

a fish or two

for dinner.

Pelican

has none

of this paraphernalia,

just one huge beak,

yet he seems to have more luck than me.

 

(Copyright Sally Murphy)

 

If you’d like to see more of Rottnest Island (or Rotto as West Australians call it), I made a photo-story of my walk around the island with my friend Sage Cookson.

 

Happy Friday. You can see the Poetry Friday roundup at Reflections on the Teche.

 

 

A Cautionary Tale of Birds, Birds and More Birds

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This is a tale with a  moral and I feel inclined to tell you the moral first: be careful what you wish for.

See, I’m in Adelaide at the moment and a few days I took a rather pleasant stroll along the Torrens River, admiring the surroundings and the black swans, including this beauty.

Black Swan Adelaide

So, this morning was a little cold and blustery but I really wanted to visit the birds again, so off I went.

I’d just got to the river when I started spotting birds. First there was this swan, huddled up against the cold wind.

sleeping swan adeliade

Then this shag, which was doing duck dives (shag-dives?) under the water.

shag adelaide

A mudlark flew in front of me, and I could hear parrots in a nearby tree. I had this sudden idea that I would try to photograph as many birds as I could, and blog about them. There’s  my wish.

Further along the bank I could see two pelicans also huddled up against the wind, and I wanted to get them on camera, so I wandered towards them. But, before I could get close to them, this happened: goose attack!

I think I managed to placate the goose, and did get a shot of my sleeping pelicans.

sleeping pelicans

But then I realised I was being chased again:

It was funny but also just a little bit like being in the movie The Birds. There were swamphens, and coots, ducks, all following me. so many of them! And it was then I remembered that I’d wanted to see lots of birds so I could blog about them. Wish granted: in a bit of an awkward way.

Later, I walked into the city, thinking I was away from the birds. But, as I sat on a bench to get my breath, a speckled pigeon and a banjo-playing busker united to give me a laugh.

So maybe, morals aside, I’ll still go looking for birds (and other things) to take photos of and blog about.

Life is good.

sallymurphy.com.au