Dr. Charles Frederickson

MUD SLIDE

Whole villages slither by downhearted
Desperate needy souls without recourse
Abandoned huts cling to hillsides
Knee deep red clay slicks

Stray dogs buried under rubble
Cherished family heirlooms grime infested
Pet songbird trapped behind bars
Gold cage exposing blackened ribs

Picking up bits and pieces
Of beloved lives devastatingly lost
Decomposed bodies clear tarpaulin mummies
Unceremoniously dumped in mass graves

Rancid stench permeating burial mounds
Grief-stricken anxiously trying to cope
Calloused hands digging through debris
Tragic avalanche reeking sorrowful guilt

Flooding heavy rains preceded disaster
Sheer bluff came crashing down
Shaky grip gritty cliff hangers-on
Struggling to rebuild eroded future

Kim Randell

MAUNGAKEIKEI

A singing axe made naked Maungakeikei,
Some settler men a sacred Totara killed.
The grief of Tane Mahuta was vented,
And Rongo wept upon that naked hill.

Those Pakeha then realized their error
Of desecrating Maungakeikei's crown.
To ease the grief of Tangata Whenua,
A pine from Monterey was bedded down.

It grew to massive size, that sacred pine tree,
And shaded Maungakeikei from the sun.
Tane Mahuta had smiled upon it
And made sure that his curse was well undone.

Then came a man of very twisted vision,
Who saw himself a warrior of the past.
Imagined all the warpaint and the feathers,
Attacked poor Maungakeikei in the dark.

The shadow of his moku echoes visions
Of imaginary battles with his foes.
Their juices stain his chin in feasts of conquest,
It's how, in his skewed mind, his mana grows.

He grunts and wields his mere with conviction.
It roars and spins its hungry metal teeth.
Chewing through the whiteness of the tree-flesh,
Carpeting the ground like snow beneath.

That pine tree through its stature had grown tapu.
A child of Tane Mahuta indeed!
The twisted one could not cut through at that time,
But struck a mortal blow that would succeed.

Six years it took before that pine tree's passing,
A time to stand in awe and say farewell.
Tane Mahuta's new child will grow there,
And once again we'll see our One Tree Hill.

© Kim Randell 2005

Nicholas Alexander

Danger Signs

That droning sound can only be one thing
It is time to go down and be amoung
our family

Discuss the tedium of hours
away from the privacy of our rooms

What we call individuality
Sacrificed lest yet for our safety
Mutual respect for our spaces
Ahead of the dignity of graces

we call on the memory
of our heroes instead
as our neighbors die
explosions above their
heads and stones

buildings can be rebuilt
innocence
cannot.

5:10 Aug 19th

Bernie Kyle

THE SPORTING LIFE.
By
Bernard V Kyle
[C] 2005


Now Rugby will never Bug me,
While the Ticket for Some, is the Cricket,
If you're Seven Feet Tall, there's Basketball,
And Soccer, if you Just want to Kick it !

That Tennis is Surely a Menace,
For those who Remain Overweight,
And a Fast Game of Squash, Oh Golly Gosh,
Needs Coronaries that can Dilate !

Cards are attractive, if you are Inactive,
And Darts, will minimize Strain,
Weight lifting of course, Needs the strength of a Horse,
And Chess needs a Brain - in the Main..

There's many a Sporting Attraction,
And Games with no Effort, I'm Told,
But surely your Health and Maybe your Wealth,
Will improve, if you'll just get Involved !

Now Gambling on Sport is a Problem,
It's even less Certain than Shares,
One day you'll be making a Fortune,
While next, you'll be selling your Wares..

This Watching the Sport on the Telly,
With a "Tinny" or two in the Hand,
Will Bring you No Bruising and maybe some Snoozing,
So Appeals to an Increasing Band.

But don't be a damned Couch Potato,
Get out and Give it a Go,
You don't have to be a John Walker,
Or even a Florence Flo Jo !!

There's good Reason for being a Player,
And Getting involved in some Sport,
The Effort involved, you need to be Told,
Could Delay the Day of "La Mort. "

Now you may be as old as a Grandpa,
Yet Sport, can be One of your Goals,
You can Ruin the Walk, by Playing some Golf,
Or get on with Playing some Bowls,

But Whatever your Age it's Important,
To Function as Well as you Can,
So give it a Go and ere long you Know,
You'll be more than an old Also Ran..

Yet Athletes need to Remember,
And it's True, for All who will See,
One day you'll rank as the 'Top Dog,'
While Next, The Fire Hydrant You'll be !!

********

Gemma Millar

Among the apples


Among the apples sat a fresh young leaf,
Through the branches,
To the ocean she could see,
The fruit pickers came,
Time and again,
Over the years, stealing her friends.
The young leaf wallowed, as she began to age,
And spent all her time thinking about that day…
That day, when she nearly left home,
The day she decided it was time to go,
The ocean was calling,
Begging her to come and play,
She had been too scared, and decided to stay.
Now all her friends had gone,
And on her own she stayed.
The ocean didn’t call anymore,
And the pickers didn’t come,
The apples were not plentiful,
As to the years, the tree had succumbed.
So the leaf sat each day on her branch,
Wishing she had left, when she had the chance.
Knowing her thoughts would get her nowhere,
She broke her own twig, and fell through the air.
She assumed she was to fall to her death,
When suddenly she realised, she hadn’t hit the ground yet.
With slight hesitation, she looked around,
The ground beneath, was far to be found.
She let her veins relax, as the wind held her tight,
She felt safe and secure, and let go of her fright.
The salty breeze, engulfed her at once,
She enjoyed this feeling, as in the wind she spun.
Her friend the wind carried her to the ocean, where she had never gone.
When she asked is this the end?
He replied, no, you’ve only just begun.

Late 2005.

The news between lands

Did you know the entire South Island was quaranteened for didymo?

I had to carefully consider if I had any to declare, but nobody seemed to be listening anyway and I did not like it on my salad. Seaweed is infinitely better, and you do not really have to declare it as you tend to get it on the way, not from another land, per se, but from the misty aft, the places in between where it is neither day nor night, living or dying, black or light.