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
