Broome

Pearls unfurled on the western wash,
Wet tide flats draping the sunny sands,
Stromatolites multidimensional,
Shadowing the prints of dinosaurs
At the crown of Australia-
Great archivist of tectonic forces.
Camels stride the layered beach,
Waves unseen beyond the tropical shield,
Blazing sunsets that seer the margin,
Casting ambivalent light on the ocean’s reflection,
Drawing forth a stairway to the moon-
Familiar sense of oddness in a land full of it.
Out there in the deep,
Where a spirit fell trying to reach it,
The moon watches as it sinks through the bathysphere,
One aboriginal among millions before,
Sinking, sinking to the depths,
Relinquishing the cause, destined to return,
When suddenly, out of the startling darkness,
Appear millions of bioluminescent forms,
Imitating the stars that would have been seen
Had the ascension been complete.
Oceanic universe, hidden under a sea of pearls,
Forgive this trespass, for you are subconscious reality,
A theory of metaphor patient for release,
Integrating sea and air for the land to exist.