Curio

State Library of New South Wales

Closing of the Gap, 1995

Oil painting Reproduced with the kind permission of Jane Bennett ML 1418

Closing the Gap

By © Margaret Bradstock

Spider-steel

a cable-stayed climbing wall

for dreamworks heroes,

you document

the passing of an era.

An unclosed gap

soon to shut down its past

          trawls the dark water.


Below us, working harbour sites

dissolve into the distance,

a Whiteley speed-boat

unfurls its backwash

          into Johnstone's Bay.

          *

Bats halo round the light

on Anzac Bridge

looking for insects,

like seagulls in the wake

of container ships,

          caught in its shining web.


Nearby

historic Glebe Island Bridge

is rotting, timber fenders

on both sides of the swing-bridge

          near collapse.


- after Closing of the gap, 1995, Jane Bennett

© Margaret Bradstock


Artist’s Eyrie

By © Sheryl Persson

From here I see concrete forks

tune the cobalt sky to perfect pitch


From here I see taut steel ropes

stringing heaven’s harp


I hum in unison with the wind

and could sprout feathered wings


Like Icarus I watch with eagle eyes

but must be careful of the sun


Up here I am godlike

a puppet master pulling strings


Look down – vertigo – panic


I want no place in that microcosm

below, a working harbour


Where a weary bridge opens a gap

to boats but soon it will be gone


Instead, streamers of cars

uninterrupted, will ribbon back and forth


A million comings and goings

day after dreary night after dreary day


It is inevitable that I will descend

to brooding reality closing the gap


- after Closing of the Gap, 1995, Jane Bennett

© Sheryl Persson