Phil Salmon Poet Narrative

Odyssey From Africa 9c10a

CHAPTER 9c

Swift a sand shark spiraled nearer
Baring teeth it eyed them coldly
Han spun full about and kicked it
In the center of its body
 
But at this the sand shark merely 
Shrugged and moved off several paces
Han and Matto reached the surface 
Gasping air and treading water
 
Still they grasped the stretching tendril
Of the octopus which drifted
Underneath them in the current 
Pulling them along the shoreline 
 
Hard they lunged toward the shallows
Heaved the octopus behind them
Briefly glimpsed a shark's unblinking 
Baleful eyes approach the surface 

Feeling one or two sharp tugs as 
Shark and man contested briefly
This immense molluscan trophy.
Han and Matto soon prevailed and

Dragged the carcass onto dry land
Thus their battle with the monster
Yielded them a seafood supper
Of gargantuan proportions 


CHAPTER 10a Hiatus
 
But the challenge now that faced them
Was the means of preparation 
How to cook the great sea creature?
Han and Kwona did some thinking 
 
As the children, boulder-hopping 
Looked for pretty stones and seashells
Han stepped inland to a sand dune
Near the rocks and started digging
 
With a slab of wave-smoothed driftwood
Dug a trench of length and broadness 
So a man could lie inside it
Like a grave-trench for a burial
 
While Han sweated at this labour
Matto rubbed two sticks together 
Finally a flame enkindled
Which they fed within the trench pit
 
Once the fire had blazed up fiercely 
Then died down to orange embers 
Han and Matto covered up the
Fire with smoothly rounded pebbles

Son and father now ran shoreward 
Hoisted up the octopus and
Laid it down into the trench 
Upon the fire-scorched bed of pebbles 

And another layer of pebbles 
Next they laid upon the creature 
Till it all was covered over
Baking in a stony oven

Now the evening's rapid onset
And a shoreward breeze that lingered
Brought a coolness to the shoreline 
To the air above the sand dunes

And as dark unveiled the starlight 
All the family came together 
Round the stones which radiated
Warming heat and rich aroma
 
Lisa slept alongside Rosy
With her mother lying by her
Han and Matto in the meantime 
Taking turns to watch for danger
 
And Ipiki made his night-flight 
Circling round about the campsite
As the smell of roasting mollusc
Did attract some nighttime creatures
 
Once a solitary hyena
Skirted round the resting family 
Then approached with curious interest
Pale eyes glinting in the moonlight

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