viii
Out of the dust in cameron corner
the border dashes a straight
line for the coast. Then,
leaps off the 29th parallel
to swim upstream, for rivers should
be shared. It bends and twists
until it climbs out to traverse the great
dividing range. A dotted line
must be its own guide. So it wanders
from peak to saddle to granite
dome, skirting the base of wedding cake
shaped cliffs. It is a roller coaster hike and
before it jumps
into waves at point danger
it must scramble the subtropical
ridge of the tweed escarpment,
the inside rim of an extinct volcano
still gazing at its own belly warning.
8am on Mt Throakban
waiting for cloud to part,
to catch a glimpse
of his pencil line
between Archerfield
and Lismore.
burnt tree on a ridge
his heart rate
on the border
