October 25th, 2025Local Lines
Driftwood
In the rolling trance of tidal pull
a lone piece of driftwood
circled the island
after his death.
Mum walked alone with her thoughts
on the Day of Jubilation
when she came upon it
washed ashore on Dili beach.
We her other children kicked a ball
with local Timorese children
splashed our feet in the waves.
We didn’t see what she was doing.
She picked up the smooth wand
and wrote his name in the sand,
the crest and fall of her breathing
rhythmic sobs, grief’s ebb and flow.
Even the mighty tide
would not wash away
years of sadness
Tony Stewart
– Anne E Stewart
Storyteller and poet Anne E Stewart was a long-time Daylesford resident who now lives in Brisbane. Crossroads is available at Paradise Books or online at https://anneestewart.bigcartel.com/
(First published in Oystercatcher One
by Steve Meyrick (ed), 5 islands Press 2024
Reprinted in Crossroads: My stories of Balibo by Anne E Stewart)
Local Lines features poetry by locals about local and any other matters.
Please submit poems to Bill Wootton at cottlesbreedge@gmail.com
