Triangles of Spangles

Perhaps it will work for you if I explain it, Pliny, I said.

Go on, he replied, but symbolism is of little use if it has to be explained.

Alright I won't then, I said.

No, go on. Why does the triangle of spangles represent political harmony?

Because it has three sides, equally balanced, I said.

You didn't say it was an equilateral triangle, said Pliny.

Well it was. Each side represents the players in the political drama that we are currently faced with, Labor, the Coalition, and the Independents and Greens.

That is four, said Pliny, reasonably. Or five if you split the Coalition.

Alright, I said. But you could think of them as three.

You could, agreed Pliny. It is interesting, he added, that a triangle of light was formed on the surface of the sea. Was there a triangular hole in the clouds?

No, isn't that just the way the sun shines on the sea? Spreading from a point on the horizon?

Of course not, said Pliny scornfully. It generally throws a straight path across the water from the horizon to the observer.

Oh, I said. Then it was more an omen than a symbol. Just like your baby whale! And you know what? Later on in the afternoon I saw a dolphin! I remember it clearly now.

Pliny sighed.

Harmonious Poem

I liked your Green Poem, Pliny, I said. Would you like to see mine? It's called Harmonious Poem. Without waiting for him to reply, I began:

Harmonious Poem

The day after the election
the sun came out
people went to the beach forgetting
what they had brought about

They walked their dogs
they ate icecreams
built sandcastles and didn't see
the tide coming in.

A triangle of spangles
sparkled on the sea
representing the harmonious country
this might be.

Not bad, said Pliny, although your rhyming leaves something to be desired.

Well, I wrote it in a hurry, I said. As I suspect you wrote yours.

What makes you think that? asked Pliny.

You paid no attention to metre, I said. Even an amateur can tell.

It was straight from the heart, said Pliny, sentimentally. I see you liked my baby whale.

You stole it from Bob Brown, I said.

But he didn't transform it into art, said Pliny.

True, he didn't. What did you think of my own use of symbolism?

The triangle of spangles? said Pliny. It didn't work for me.