Poem: Sea-Green Botswana

Sea-Green Botswana

Okavango Delta, Kalahari Desert, Botswana.

Clinging on white-knuckled

to the bar in front of me

in the back of this doors-off chopper ride

over the great Okavango Delta

it takes some minutes to let go and look out

on this incredible expanse

of greenness dotted with

elephants hippos and massive crocs.

My bird impersonator

swoops low to get a better view –

a sole bull elephant ploughs an emerald sea

while the rest of his tribe

gather under the trees

that punctuate the termite islands

growing undisturbed in this Eden.

Watery veins and arteries spread out

waiting for the rains from Angola

to swell them to three times their size.

The unfettered joyfulness

of nature untouched

by the heavy hand of humans,

breathes and shines.

Penny Gale has had career as a communications and stakeholder engagement executive, spanning commerce, industry and the arts, including as Arts Advisor to a former South Australian premier who was also Minister for the Arts. These days, she sits on for-purpose boards, and travels as much as possible. She is currently into eight months of a planned year of exploring Africa. She “loves words, has worked with them all her life in her career and poetry”. Africa, is certainly inspiring her in respect to the latter, with work in progress.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.