Cliff Divers

Flinders Beach

It is the season of chafing
and Vaseline shared between
thighs with nervous palms

We hear the hiss of water
dragon’s claws lacerated
through dead leaves

He moves away too quick
for us to catch a glimpse, darts
off cliffsides but the sound lingers

These rock faces are harsher against
our hands than they were last year
far less gentle than past summers

Their momentum crushes
sinking heads like brown grapes
as we hurl ourselves face-first

off their crowns. I first caught
her face beneath the water, felt
her hair cling like thrumming

fingers of a jellyfish around
my face. Her eyes licked red
as the tongue of the water

dragon we never saw. I moved
away from her quick enough
to be heard but not seen.

Sean West holds a BFA in Creative and Professional Writing. In 2019, he was shortlisted for the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. His work has appeared in StylusLit, Stilts Journal, and Baby Teeth Journal, among others. He lives and works in Brisbane, Australia. Find more of him at www.callmemariah.com.