New Caledonia
A sea serpent traces its path through the sand.
Rain beats on canvas shoes.
A skull, lit white by torches, in shallow water lies.
A woman, full-lipped, creeps through the night to her dusky-skinned lover.
Rain beats on towels hung to dry.
Mosquitoes rise thick from the mangroves, silhouetted against bronze eggs.
A gecko pink on a bottled sun against the darkness.
Rain beats on packed bags.
A machete salute against a rune-etched tree.
Dead coils of thick roots brave the roaring seas.
Rain beats on leafy roof.
A car painted with red mud and black mud beneath the red.
A mad driver hits 130 and giggles.
Rain beats on white path.
A tumble of accents; Irish, Australian, Polish, French.
A reef, clean of waves and then battered by them, and the one-gloved figure in the abyss.