Nick Flittner no longer lives on Magnetic Island but his poems still do. The following poems can now also be found in a book by Nick titled Magnetic Island Reflections which is available for sale at the Magnetic Island History and Craft Centre on Granite St in Picnic Bay.

Curlews



Curlews: night-haunters,
slow-pacers, group-wanderers,
walker-startlers, child-wakers,
day-hiders.


Horseshoe Bay



Last year’s fire
raced up the ridge
igniting the Blackboys
which burst into flower
three months later
sending stalks shooting skyward
ablaze with flowers
which dowsed the embers
in dripping nectar
and fuelled feeding frenzies
of birds and bees.

Down below
the good-luck horseshoe
provides calmer waters
for troubled sailors
on stormy seas.

8.9.1990

Nightfall Over Arcadia



The sun is retreating along the headland
leaving a line of palms in shadow.
Then the rocky outcrop – a birthday cake with candles –
loses its flame.

A peak of trees, midpoint and highpoint,
gains a silhouette
as the gold-line flees from jetty,
tumble-rocks and point.

The crash of the night is held off
by a smoke-pink sunset, for a moment,
until the villainous dark
pockets the light and the gold.

3.2.1990


Florence Bay



Ssshh, there’s a secret to keep.
Ssshh, there’s a secret to keep.

Deep down in the sand, in their roots,
the casuarinas hold the key
to the Pandora’s Box of ideas
for development and progress.
They whisper about it, and giggle.
Take time to listen.

As long as the casuarinas hold the key,
the secret is kept,
and Florence is safe.

Ssshh.

18.3.1990


Photos: George Hirst