Sydney Opera House

by Isobel

Sunday 10th May 2009 11:28 am

(An observation more than a poem)

On Bennalong Point

The Opera House soars

Stunning, majestic, iconic

The jewel in Sydney’s crown

Outlined against a tideless sea

And a sky so blue and cloudless

No eye to compare

Made in Australia

Now visited by every nation

Overdue, over budget, over all

An inconceivable idea

A preposterous proposal

That somehow came to be

From a distance, the promise of freedom

A ship, in full sail, on an open sea

Up close, in the hot light of day

The harsh Ozzie sun does little to disguise

A pile of ugly, beige tiles

Arranged just so

For an Opera House, they got it badly wrong

Inadequate back stage, cramped orchestra

Poor acoustics

Poor planning and no forethought

I would say

For no sweet voice ever sang there

Japanese tourists crowd the steps

Take photos of the bridge

And reflect on what they will do

Tomorrow

The open sea is a lonely place

The sky so big, the ocean so vast

Blue meets blue meets blue

And the sun beats down at you

Till you’re reeling

And you feel you might just fall off the edge

But no-one there to prop you up

Put their arms around you

Or call you ‘love’.

Comments

Isobel

Tue 30th Mar 2010 18:33

Thanks for your comment Chris - I don't think I could explain it any better than I did in the first comment I made to Francine. The opera house was a grand design that failed for a whole host of reasons. There is no explaining to anyone the sense of isolation you find in Australia - separated not just by miles but by time zones. The skies are so big there that you do indeed feel dizzy sometimes - I guess what ever mood you are in is accentuated by it.

Yes - the poem is a build up to the last stanza. The love I referred to at the end had two meanings. Up here in the north we tend to call each other love and we are very giving socially. I missed that as well as other types of love.

I am happy now thank you but the past does have this habit of haunting you....

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Isobel

Fri 15th May 2009 08:43

Thanks for commenting Graham - I am glad for people to get whatever they can from my work and this was meant to work on different levels. Without the emotional content this would have been a bit 'dry bones' for me, which is possibly why it hasn't attracted a lot of comment. The title and the body of the poem don't really give too much away. I did think very hard about every choice of word though. The Japanese tourists look at the bridge and talk about tomorrow. In life we all do that - ignoring what we have just under our nose - today. Wouldn't want to rubbish Australia too much - if you can find a true Ozzie amongst the cultural melting pot - they are diamonds. It is also a wonderful lifestyle - had I gone there younger and in different circumstances maybe it would have worked.

Graham Sherwood

Fri 15th May 2009 00:03

Isobel, I read it in a very different way.I was there in Sydney for two months during December and January and have very different opinions as my son lives there. What is quite correct about your piece is that this iconic structure, immediately identifiable the world over is really just a clever shell with very little inside it. I read it as an Australian stereotype "all up front with little to back up when the surface is scratched" Another thing I felt about your piece was the feeling of being so far away from home when down under. It is a bloody long way away.

<Deleted User> (7790)

Wed 13th May 2009 19:11

Hello Isobel. Oh what an elegy for abandoned hope. It reminds me somehow of wrens nesting. The male builds two nests and the female decides which she likes. One nest is often less well made and more open to the elements than the other. The male wren isn't going to waste his time twice. He's maybe already decided and the element of choice is simply a ritual and a blatant lie.

Isobel

Tue 12th May 2009 15:57

Thanks for reading Francine - you picked up on the most important part. The rest of the poem is just a build up to the end, the Opera House being an allegory for the failure of a grand design or plan. The poem was inspired by Steve Regan's 'Half a world and a lifetime away...' which deals with emigration amongst other things. Emigration can be a way of escaping - a vision of freedom elsewhere which doesn't always really exist - instead we swap one penal colony for another... To find real freedom you sometimes have to take more drastic steps.
Isobel x

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Sydney Opera House

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