That Feeling Like No Other
Under the cover.
Of a thin, worn corrugated sheet
On a bed.
In a shack.
By the sea.
With thunderous southerlies.
Raining rivers.
Thick fat
mud leeches.
Stuck to us.
Chasing after beer cans.
Rolling down the hill. .
Relentless nor easters.
Blowing up sand
and sand
and more
sand
from the seventh sea.
All the sand from
from all our summer's.
shipwrecked
on your ankles
Jet black, fast on your finger.
From the carbon mantel lamp.
The kero fridge melts.
Banksia cobs
turn to coal.
On a cooking fire
built for fish
That feeling only love knows.
That feeling like no other
- © Tony Hughes 2022
Tony Hughes is an Australian actor and singer. As an actor, he starred in The Lost Islands (1976), Chopper Squad (1977–1979) and the film adaptation of Puberty Blues (1981). As a singer he has fronted Bellydance and King Tide. The beach shack referred to in this poem is owned by the family of the poet's late wife, Cassanadra Woodburne, who passed away on 22nd November 2020 after a long and courageous struggle with cancer.
The accompanying picture of the legendary shack at Era Beach is by the renowned Sydney artist Lucy O'Doherty, daughter of Mambo artist Reg Mombassa.
speaks of that stark living where the basic things are wonders , heat to cook , light to see , protection from the elements but all with the knowledge that there will beautiful sights to see in the morning
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