PORT DOUGLAS

Pack the sound of frogs
Chirping through the night,
The geckos scuttling
Across the sills.

Carry the ocean
Home in my suitcase.

The turtle that circled me
On the Great Barrier Reef,
His eyes holding me
Like a hypnotist.

And the Daintree Forest,
Mossman Gorge,
The crocodile jerky
I ate at Hartley’s Farm.

I will unpack you.

Sadie Galloway is fourteen years old and attends Wellington East Girls’ College. The poem ‘Port Douglas’ won the school’s creative writing prize.