Looking at Kāpiti

Sleep, Leviathan, shouldering the AsianNight sombre with fear, kindled by one starSmouldering through the fog, while the goaded oceanRecalls the fury of Te Rauparaha. Massive, remote, familiar, hung with spray,You seem to guard our coast, sanctuaryTo our lost faith, as if against the dayInvisible … [Read more...] about Looking at Kāpiti

Prawn tide

As the sun came up, a faint frost dusted dunes and tussocks then disappeared. Behind the breakers white vapour floated, throwing a veil over island hills haunch-hunkered by the water. The moon set pink this morning; now red prawns flow and writhe in lines along the tide mark in a plague of plenty. … [Read more...] about Prawn tide

Good Friday

TawhirimateaClaims the air tonight,Blinds the outward eyeWith needles of rain.TangaroaRides the full tide in,Pounding the mind’s beachesIncessantly with Sound. NowOld altars will be overturned,Judgemental gods forsaken,Guilt, shame, sin,CrucifixionOf the innocent self,Cast out as devils. The … [Read more...] about Good Friday

The creek

We choose leaves carefully, the kind very green and glossy on one side light bouncing and bouncing off them. White on the other, midveins clear, veins clear, and in the curl, of their own accord they curl, we place three petals say, or 14 seeds, or an earwig. And now as evening falls we tear … [Read more...] about The creek

Currently

after  Alistair  Te Ariki Campbell They  say we  are ants.  So many humans.  They say  we are sheep  one  after  another  on a hillside.  They  say we  are birds  i.e sweethearts.   And  donkeys  and snakes  and coots. It’s  neat the  way we can  become so  many  others  in the … [Read more...] about Currently

Paekākāriki Hill

hunched like a guardian above the village under a full moon silver light like tinsel strewn through the trees a bolt of blue light exploded from the hillside and sped south along the railway line at the creek mouth it made an abrupt 90 degree turn headed towards the island and vanished into the … [Read more...] about Paekākāriki Hill

A Paekākāriki Bike Ride [Written To The Tune Of ‘Truckin’ By The Grateful Dead]

Ridin’ got my helmet onKeep bikin’ push my pedals downI’m cruisin’ trying to be on timeJust keep ridin’ on   Start on the bike track the north end of PaekakarikiIt’s an easy ten minutes to ride past the stream so keep onA typical sunshiny day and I’m in a daydreamKeep it up and see what … [Read more...] about A Paekākāriki Bike Ride [Written To The Tune Of ‘Truckin’ By The Grateful Dead]