Europa Poets' Gazette No. 71, March 2010

On Jonson Street
Byron Bay, August 2005
On Jonson Street the lines of chalk
fade in angled sunlight -
shapes of sun and fish
curved on a black canvas of bitumen,
near
cheap breakfasts and the endless beach
neoprened bodies flicking wet
arms over fibreglass
waiting on the sun-warm water,
for the surf.
On Jonson Street the traffic flows
the traffic stops, the traffic slows
past curry houses and craft emporia
past flocks of backpackers,
soft curls and hard vowels,
tanned, dreadlocked, in bare feet
along the edges of Jonson Street

Chalk lines fade toward the gutter
- the sun bleeds off the canvas -
as silhouettes, slick in shiny black
replace the street with sand

staring at the water.

© Cameron Hindrum