Nov 25, 2014 | Poems
Once upon a time when the earth was blue
and the cross turned over and the grey stars sighed
I played Etta James and I thought of you
how we dived for love and for wreckage too
how we stamped and sang and waited for lies
once upon a time when the earth was blue.
Why do the songs always come on cue?
Why do the words slither and sigh?
I played Etta James and I thought of you
I was told that a garden only grows rue
when the memory of laughter lies fallow and dry
once upon a time when the earth was blue.
There’ s a house on a hill where the rent is due
it’s the place that the flesh and the fires deny
I played Etta James and I thought of you
here where the bread and the heart balance true
here where the blood and the body cry
once upon a time when the earth was blue
I played Etta James and I thought of you.
Renée
Nov 11, 2014 | Poems
We do yoga together
You stretch your arm carefully
so as not to pull on your scar
I fight gravity to stay upright
Create will from firm flesh
You brittle and folding easily
Me bulky with new growth
We make a strange pair
in the tiger pose.
We breathe calm breath in a steady stream
Inside us cells are busy multiplying
Mine the blurprint for a life
Yours the army gathering
Sarah Delahunty
We end cross legged
and talk of exactly what there is to see
In this room, in the quiet, by a window of trees
Without lifting our eyes rto the hills
Sarah Delahunty
Oct 28, 2014 | Poems
Just before locomotion
you are the fattest cherub
on the tallest ceiling
in the best basilica.
Wings would fold themselves into your folds
which in themselves are honey
you are flesh run to laughter
and promise in a small compass
which will never be repeated.
Already you are raising yourself, straining
to use one leg as a prop.
The folds will fall from it
as you rear up and crawl
you will walk and they will fall like silk.
All this manna gathered together
cherubs with wings and arrows
in the gestures of your hands
your beaming expression
your taking everything into your mouth
honey to honey, to make honey.
Elizabeth Smither
Oct 21, 2014 | Poems
My Asherah, I made a shrine for you in the old fire pit under the tree
but I did not leave you. I wasn’t sure how you would weather
and the red ants were unwilling to share their lawn. I placed flowers
in clam shells, took swift photographs. Snap. Snap. Snap. Asherah
you stand-in for deity, you looked stunning. Later I returned you
to your altar laid with a violet cloth, candles, red hibiscus,
the Three of Wands and The Lovers, a string of tiny shells,
a silver chalice with a smoky quartz wand in place of the god.
Your nose was chipped and grey against your black fired
Ganges clay and resin face. I still love you I said. You are still
the woman you were this morning. Perhaps in time we won’t see this
as disfigurement. Four days, and now I sing you
a Michael Jackson hit. Here, I have a fine-tipped Vivid.
I can restore your beauty, Queen of Heaven. It will be our secret.
Sandi Sartorelli
Oct 14, 2014 | Poems
There was a billionaire
who appeared as a dazzling series of zeros.
He placed coins on our tongues.
There was a poet
lying on his back in the grass
his eyes eaten by clouds.
There was a woman
stitching a novel on the walls
of her heart.
There were two young people
rubbing an idea together
& producing light.
There was
the wind & farcical sunshine
on the green brow of a hill.
& perched
on the edge of the stage
two women in wheelchairs
who were delighted
by the man going by
on a unicycle.
Richard Langston
Oct 7, 2014 | Poems
The road continues on
but here’s where we turn
left over the railway lines
Beach Rd
Speed drops away
through shops, people
then up the rise
The Parade
The front line of the ocean
houses hunched in
perpetual standoff
Kapiti Island etched
like a graph
wind clips out ears
The Sand Track
My mind rolls out the map of it
stretched out streets take shape
Henare Horomona Haumia
Shells bite under feet
sand infiltrates, heaped in
corners, Norfolk Pines head
north in giant strides
My mind calls out the chant of it
Tarawa Te Miti Tangahoe
The hills press close
We inhabit the edge
the sea and shore
their endless exchange
again
again
again
Sarah Delahunuty
