34-37 Degrees South - 2023
This anthology from the South Coast Writers Centre presents fresh country poetry from emerging and award-winning local writers.
This anthology from the South Coast Writers Centre presents fresh country poetry from emerging and award-winning local writers.
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
at wagga beach<br />
Tim Heffernan<br />
on the weekends and after school you went down<br />
to the beach and this was when you were young and<br />
worrying about pubic hair, breasts and dickheads.<br />
it was about a decade since you almost drowned<br />
in the murrumbidgee at hay and well past that<br />
memory of the woman who dragged you up when<br />
you were heading down, downstream. seeking<br />
shade those summers we unfurled our towels under<br />
the red gums down at the beach where the river’s<br />
curve stopped the sand. we walked upstream past<br />
the caravan park to the rocks where we slid into the<br />
river and swam to the other side, swinging on the<br />
rope and jumping from the trees that overhung.<br />
mostly we went with it and floated down to the<br />
beach on tractor tubes or just with our bodies. it<br />
was nice, waiting for the five o’clock wave. a kiss on<br />
the other bank. a glimpse of your breast. walking<br />
you home. it was a place to skim tennis balls.<br />
but then once, across the river where the current<br />
undercut, where we all jumped from the bank into<br />
the river, someone decided to<br />
dive<br />
5
Change language