Surfers Paradise Sojourn. Poem by Michael Walker

(for Mark D. Walker, brother and friend) .

They knew how to name towns back then.
You can go surfing in mid-July
or relax on the warm, white sands
of Surfers Paradise beach in mid-July
which I do for a few hours of bliss.
Close to the beach are white high-rises,
buildings mainly apartments for tourists.
The different- shaped buildings look so perfect
in a soft blue cloudless sky that I think
of Plato's Forms and Ideas in an ideal world
somewhere out there even if not visible.


I see tourists walking the walk
on litter-free footpaths then going
to nightclubs, although I do not.
The building industry is thriving
on the Gold Coast as it has for forty years.
'Shall we go to Dreamworld today? '
'No, that's more for children I think'.
'What about Jupiter's tonight then? '
'All right, seeing you like poker machines'.
...Now your ashes are scattered somewhere in that paradise'.

-July,2012.




In Surfers Paradise the nightclubs cater for all.
I had fun dancing until midnight with glamour girls,
who came from many countries to Australia's best resort.
More high-rise hotels, motels and apartments
for tourists are continuously on the build,
and this enterprise for holidaymakers
took off like arocket twenty-odd years ago,
the golden years of tourism on the Gold Coast.
'Shall we go to Dreamworld today? '
'No, that's for children, if you ask me'.
'How about Jupiter's Casino tonight then? '
'All right, sinceyou like the throwing of the dice.'
...But now your ashes are scattered somewhere in that paradise.




- July,2012. (Revised in March,2017) .