Reflective Insulation

     `You just walk out of the world, and into Australia.'
                                                                                                        (Lawrence)

Dozing mere afternoon away
hot and salty, outside time
you do not see the powderblue
of distant hills, beyond that cape:
everything has become marine
with gulls for scattered punctuation.

Huddled all together lie
the igneous and stratified:
craglet, pit and water pebble,
mini-tarn, long crinkled shelf
yellowish, ginger, tan, wet-black
with a hint of half-decayed
kelp, sea-lettuce - something off.
...