1.
Ecocosm
Grey mangroves form the first line of defence
against voracious tides, cyclonic winds.
As pioneers of tidal flats and estuaries,
they colonise the territory
disputed between land and sea,
appearing on raw mudbanks
with pneumatophore surveying-pegs,
viviparous offspring flaunting
buoyant flags of leaves.
Red mangroves congregate behind,
of more precarious design, balancing on
spider-roots, tree-acrobats on complex stilts.
Sheltered from the elements,
yellow and orange species grow
where cottonwood gives way
to pallid paperbark, shank-deep in marsh,
spectral dancers primed in chalk
and clay for the corroboree.
Grey mangroves, first upon the scene,
the elders of communities, are known
for their tenacity, refusal to capitulate:
the last line of defence against Efialtis
who lurks behind; advanced upon by bulldozers
and estate agents bearing signs, eyes blind to all
except the market price, development potential
boosted by removal of these obdurate indigenes -
razing stands of mangroves
to make way for building-sites.
2.
Leaning into Morning
Avicennia marina sway like women
with legs bare, salt encrusted in their hair
like starry nebulae; knee-deep they wade,
their viviparous offspring visible
as tender crowns and fontanelles
afloat in saline shade.
Little tongues of rain lick off the salt
that glands of leaves secrete,
pneumatophores submerge, the water
seeping through the spongy cells
with sighs as audible as silk,
the symbiosis manifest
as odours of fish-nurseries,
rich stench of phytogenic clans
inflected by the tides, in cycles
synchronising with the moon's.
Grey mangroves are an ambiguity,
their feet on land, in sea, emulating
women wading, reaching out their hands,
leaning into morning, where the birds
exclaim in wonder, as if they had
no sense of yesterday, no thought
of future plans; as if time could dissolve
like salt in water where the mangroves stand.
Avicennia marina - grey mangrove