Australia Day

[busker]

Hi, busker, I've sat with this a while and have no suggestions. Some notes on my read:

Australia Day

I see from my room 
a purple jacaranda tree
in bloom, on a beach
in the coral sea.
This is a beautiful, clear image, then the beach IN the sea  got me a little topsy-turvy, then became an island. I like that it sits slightly off for me.
Elsewhere, older fig trees grow,
where land retains the memory
of long ago and different names
for the native forest flames.
Older is very strong here. The old fig tree did a lot of work, took me on trip around the world, at first the Middle East, then my childhood backyard in NYC planted by Italian immigrants, then Italy, then Africa. All places where I have felt that retained memory the land holds. Then I finally remembered the Australian climate is probably perfect, not to mention the title lol. Thank you for not tying it down too firmly. I like that you didn't chuck names/flames due to the rhyme, which I didn't notice the first few reads. Evocative lines.
Or so I imagine it to be.
At first I applied this to the last five lines but then it overflowed to the first five and put a light fog over the whole poem.

So, I like it as is, it's morning here and a lovely way to start the day. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks, @ella. The beach 'in' the sea does sound a bit off at first, as you noted, but I didn't want to use two 'ons', and as you have observed, there are enough islands off the coast of Australia to make it believable. I had Magnetic Island in mind, a ferry ride away from Townsville. Though to be fair I don't recall if jacarandas grow there like they do in other cities in Australia, being an import and deliberately planted

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Australia Day

I see from my room 
a purple jacaranda tree
in bloom, on a beach
in the coral sea.
Elsewhere, older fig trees grow,
where land retains the memory
of long ago and different names
for the native forest flames.
Or so I imagine it to be.

Hello

I think quite a bit of this is fantastic.  Adjusting the breaks to move some of the rhyme inwards provided a surprising and pleasant feel.  The ending perfectly ties it back and creates both your turn and metaphor with an enviable efficiency.  I have read through a few times hoping to offer a word, a break, something to change but I can't - I love it as it is.  The reader in me just wishes it was a bit longer so I could continue enjoying it but it is the exact correct length already

thanks, @milo. I'll take all the compliments while I can  

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Australia Day

I see from my room 
a purple jacaranda tree
in bloom, on a beach
in the coral sea.
Elsewhere, older fig trees grow,
where land retains the memory
of long ago and different names
for the native forest flames.
Or so I imagine it to be.

I adore this piece. I imagine it being sung to a child who struggles to sleep because of the stifling heat in tropical summer evenings. 

I am not sure whether there is a name for it, but your perspective follows a sort of ever-widening structure, beginning with the tiny square of a window frame (which N is presumably looking out of from their room), all the way to vast expanses of land and forest flames, a genus of plant sufficiently different to the jacaranda to grow in another biome entirely.

I'd like to think that N is in some kind of feverish, sultry environment and recalling a surreal dream. The heat, herbs, fruits are all, I think, similar motifs that support this interpretation. As Milo mentions, the rhymes being moved inwards also adds to this feel. Like something is off, but intentionally so.

And then the final line does well to 'close the tunnel' and wrap it up well without it sounding cliché or forced.

thanks, @marsh. The Illawara forest flame is native to the east coast of Australia, while the Jacaranda is an import. But both do well in subtropical climes in these parts.