Worth Words exhibition

A thick sea, Valla Beach

My gadget shadows time, catches waves in the act,

sees the transitory for what it’s not, a calligraphy of shaving foam.

The viewfinder shines and rhymes but every time something

extraordinary happens off screen - an osprey on the high-wire,

a pod of whales exhaling bursts of spindrift breath, By-the-wind

Sailors (Velella velella) the armada foundering in blue wrack.

Mangrove roots, Nambucca River

Seeds take root, their green shells dislocate in sections,

leaves unfold, arch and expand precarious tidelines,

the light dances but that’s never quite enough.

Paperbark world, Black Rock, Nambucca

Colour is leached, swamped by the thickness of the water

and lack of excitement. The severe detail engraves scant sense

of usual business in this carbon-sink nursery for fish.