Moreton Bay - Redcliffe Map poem

Recently, at a writing workshop, maps and tourist brochures were distributed to participants and we had 10 minutes to compose a poem based on whichever item we had been handed. I got a map of the Moreton Bay/Redcliffe area of Queensland. This, with a bit of subsequent tweaking, is the poem I wrote.

Redcliffe Poem

Redcliffe is not Red Heap

that is a Norman Lindsay novel

with a saucy cover

we stocked at mum’s bookshop

in Diments Way, Hurstville

Scarborough Street is not Scarborough Road

in Lytham, St Anne’s

where we lived when I was a kid

nor is it Scarborough Fair

in case you're going there

Quay Circuit is not Circular Quay

which itself is not circular but semi circular

to geometry-minded Europeans

but Warrung to Eora nation people

Moreton Bay is celebrated

(is that the right word?)

in a ballad of convict suffering

though now known for its bugs

which are not bugs

but prized seafood

Margate Beach is Margate Beach

but not the one in Kent with donkey rides

and ‘Kiss Me Quick’ hats

However we map it, nothing is immutable

everywhere evokes elsewhere.