Spirit Boats

Long grass whispers
around her ankles as she walks
towards the lake. Fish flick-knife

inky water. In her hands she clasps
a folded paper boat. She lights
a tea candle and the flame dances.
She casts her boat into the water
and the boat glides as though a spirit.

On the other side a boy launches
his boat across the water. The vessels touch
midway as though kissing. She waits
for a message, watches as the candle tips,
sets the boat alight. Fire is suspended
on the surface. The flame is eaten
by water and the only lights reflected
are stars. The scent of longing and ash
heavy in the air.

My poem ‘Spirit Boats’ resonates with my photograph ‘Journey in a Paua Shell Boat’ from my FantasyScape series. Cast adrift on an inky lake, both poem and photograph are inspired by fantasy and storytelling, using the minimalism of the theatrical darkened stage. Through these landscapes, the viewer can explore and lose themselves in meditative worlds. As there are layers of meaning in the poem, layers of imagery of separate elements are also built into the photograph. The long exposure was lit by torchlight, to construct the environment.

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Anna Jacobson is a Brisbane based poet and photographic artist. She graduated from the Queensland College of Art with a Bachelor of Photography with Honours. She loves creating soundscapes with poetry and video art and in 2009 she won the Queensland Poetry Festival Filmmaker Award, which was screened at the Judith Wright Centre. She is currently studying Creative and Professional Writing at the Queensland University of Technology. Her poetry was published online at Graham Nunn’s blog ‘Another Lost Shark’. Anna’s artist website is www.annajacobson.com.au.

This is her first contribution to Snake-Oil Cure.

Guest edited by Michael Fitzgerald-Clarke