This is a sample of some of the poetry in Colin's latest book

It is said of this book

one of the best poetry books to come out of the bushwalking fraternity

an amusing and sometimes moving tale of walking in Australia.

 full of great poems and will be a source of enjoyment for all bushwalkers.

 the sketches alone, by Lloyd Jones, are enough to buy this book

Click here to find out how you may purchase this fine work

A Wild Blue Wander

by Colin Paul Gibson

Published by 'Greenaissance' 2000

 

 
 
 
Memories of Wallara Heights

 
Wiping fragments of thunderstorm from my eye
I look out from the bleak ledge
where night steps into the void.
Clouds on wind-wings brush my face
as the moons roll back across the years
to Wallara Heights, down a back-ladder in time...
Pushing upslope from the shelter
of a rivulet, we grappled
across the grain of vegetation
bristling like the nap
on a topographic hide.
We twisted through sturdy arms
and fingers of over-lapping bushes
where spinebills flashed by our noses.
‘You’re not coming through here’-
the stiff gesture of the Banksia bush;
so I stopped to taste a gum-leaf...and turned
to see if you were following.
I let the silence draw level
and waited for the stern crunch
of your feet; smelt the splash of sweat
and pollen in my hair, squashed
a sugary fly at the corner of my eye
as tiny bees drowned themselves
in the steam in my ears.
All that night on the wind-swept height
the moon drifted across my eyes
as it sailed star-wards
above our plateau camp,
shining its torch through pallid clouds
with mallee wands reaching up around us
thrashing in symphony with the wind.
Beside faint flickers of the fire
I followed the pale face of that cold watcher,
bleached sailor drawing a beacon
across the sea of dark;
a barnacled bow cresting the clouds
splashing my eyes with ashen light
washed through a meshwork of mallee.
Sinking at the shore of a purple sea,
the light in my mind fading with the fire;
a feeble gleam on the map of night,
my eyes straining to follow
the progression of the moon
beckoning toward
the ridges of tomorrow.
 
Coolangubra Traverse
The chainsaws were silent on Sheepstation Creek
Where they and the ’dozers had been working all week;
All week in the treasure trove cutting the prize,
Through the south-eastern forests, picking the eyes.
Under blanket-leaf cover we climbed up to Nalbaugh,
With lyre-bird fanfare we rose to the plateau,
To Nalbaugh over Wog Wog and White Ash Saddle
To the upland heights that the megaliths straddle.
Then across to Square Swamp where the scrub was like wire
Surrounding the sides of a high mountain mire
Where Boronia grew, among others to mention
The bladderwort aprons and a delicate gentian.
The plateau lay clothed in cool temperate apparel,
Tall forest of messmate, silver wattle, brown barrel,
With huge granite tors from an ancient upheaval
Evoking a scene prehistoric, primeval.
At our feet grew exquisite and rare Tetratheca,
And shrilling with song the white-throated tree-creeper;
The black cockatoos looked as though dressed in leathers
And acknowledged us simply by ruffling their feathers.
From Swamp Rock and White Rock we had views of Nungatta,
To the north Coolumbooka reclined on a platter;
Through clouds the high summits appeared as if islands
Obscuring the far Tantawangalo Highlands.
For two days and nights we sojourned on Nalbaugh,
We’d moved through the forest and fern of the plateau,
Till when from the mountain we had to disperse
And proceed with our Coolangubra traverse:
Evolution’s design - the blueprint of God,
Untainted, unspoiled, where few’d before trod;
We crossed the Wog River and made the Wog Way
And reached Reedy Creek in a full-on day.
We had walked through the bracken and sidled the falls,
We had woken to lyre-birds rehearsing their calls,
We had woven through scrub as best we could do
Zig-zagging on paths of the wild wallaroo;
We’d seen what the wilderness keeps in its store
And passed through the forest mosaic in awe;
We’d climbed the steep spur-lines and sidled each spire
And fallen to sleep by the coals of our fire.
O mighty Coolangubra!
May the rain clouds roll
Forever on the forests
Of the Kangaroo Skull;
May your waters flow like nectar,
May your storms like pulses beat,
And may you cheat the snarling chainsaws
A-snapping at your feet.

 $16 to Colin Paul Gibson 29 East Parade Fairfield 2165, and include your Name & Address

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