PERTH AND FREMANTLE
Bathers at Port Beach
the long flat water and the long flat sand
and the red-and-yellow flags
and the lifeguards that stare through mirrored
sunglasses at those who go into the sea:
cleaners, carers, concrete finishers, fitters, gas fitters,
steel fixers, scaffolders, spray painters, storepersons,
draftspersons, drivers, diamond drillers, hairdressers,
housekeepers, kitchen hands, counter hands, factory
hands, fencing sales consultants, cosmetic consultants
they go into the sea, they all go into the sea:
claims assistants, deli assistants, data administrators,
front office administrators, aluminium fabricators,
fibreglass laminators, landscapers, laggers, labourers,
laboratory technicians, air-conditioning technicians,
construction electricians, beauticians, bakers, boners
they go into the sea with beating hearts:
they go into the enabling sea that buoys, braces:
they go into the sea that tempts and tugs, it licks
as it
washes, as it washes:
they go into the arms of the sea that open wide
and do not disdain:
they go into the sea that whispers ‘you are me’,
it whispers ‘you are mine’:
they go into the sea whose deep is down, unseen:
they go into the sea with beating hearts:
bookkeepers, boilermakers, pattern makers, payroll
officers, marketing officers, machinists, medical
receptionists, removalists, riggers, registered nurses,
dental nurses, diesel mechanics, maintenance clerks,
settlement clerks, sign workers, sheet metal workers
they go into the sea, they all go into the sea:
mill operators, mobile plant operators, meat packers,
pavers, shutdown planners, schedulers, pastry chefs,
pizza cooks, counter staff, checkout staff, chippies,
truckies, travel agents, fashion agents, forkies, firies,
funding co-ordinators, counsellors, couriers, cleaners
that go into the sea
between the red-and-yellow flags
as the lifeguards stare through mirrored sunglasses
at the long flat sand and the long flat water