Far from home I greet the stranger
tall, imposing as a highland oak
grey eyes, unfathomable as the sea
my cool handshake warmed in his

in the lilting cadence of his voice
I hear echoes of my own fair isle
gentle lapping of waves on fine
white sands of the eastern shore

wild west wind scouring the machair
bleating of black Hebridean sheep
the graceful flight of the kittiwake
drumming of puffin wings in the air

his syllables a blueprint of my culture
my birthright, my mother-tongue
a Rosetta Stone only we can decipher
in this Pilbara town, far from home

**

Maria Bonar writes poetry, short fiction and creative nonfiction. Her writing has appeared in Award Winning Australian Writing, Creatrix, Catchment: Poetry of Place, Poetry d’Amour, Bronze Quill Winners Anthology, Stringybark Stories, BootsnAll, numerous anthologies and online publications. A former CEO, nurse, social health researcher and parole officer, she often travelled solo in rural and remote areas of Western Australia, which is reflected in her writing.

P76 issue 9: Poetries of place/ displacement/ diaspora/ odyssey: On-line Edition. Table of Contents

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