In the story I’ll tell you
when we move on from here
this is where we’ll be
me sitting with feet swinging over the water
a shoal of silver fish spilling out
from the shadows under the jetty
as if the sea had emptied small change from its pockets
the dollars and cents rolling away
like days and hours, like now.
Out beyond the furthest swimmers
the water is thinning, turning to sky
white gulls are flickering like angels,
dissolving into sugar-crumbs of light
but I have turned to look back
at the three of you running across the sand
your hair sieving the late-afternoon sun
into sparkling particles of matter.
Listen: your laughter like cloud-crystals.
See: how the light is in everything.
Now is the story
I’ll be telling you: this
will always be happening.
Originally from Scotland, Alison Flett moved to Adelaide in 2010. Her poetry collection Whit Lassyz Ur Inty (Thirsty Books, 2004) was shortlisted for the Saltire Book of the Year Award. In 2012 she won the Satura Prize for poetry and came second in the Glen Phillips Poetry Prize.