blue-grey, a silvering
fish-headthe kingfisher’s shape
under-the-table

in the sanctuary
winter in my fingers

prayers bring the
and the fringe

of light and feathers
we call to Taion the black wire
two more kingfishers

from paper to kindle
becomes thread

kingfisher to the wire
of tide

empty
leave!we quake
fat on a branch

to embers
and air

nothing between us

Hinemoana Baker and Christine White
Foxton Beach, August 2013