Monthly Archives: May 2022

Poetry

Beneath Hikurangi

Cicadas singing 
in the fire of the sun. 
We used to think 

they lived so briefly 
and it was too easy 
for the mynahs 

to catch them 
in their yellow beaks, 
hold them for a moment, 

still singing; 
no wild struggle or hardly 
a change in pitch.

After we learnt 
they lived for years 
underground, it wasn’t 

so bad. Now, listening 
to the cicadas 
in the crystal space 

of early summer,
the hill, always there, 
cut-silhouette on the horizon,

we’re happy enough 
in our grand mediocrity.
Standard
Poetry

Arriving

We can’t get it right 
      like Newton—we search 
            for patterns to lay it down 

in best durable forms 
      [laughter]: watch the sea 
            deal with rocks, 

feel the sand between 
      your toes. Does it matter 
            that Antares can consume 

663 trillion Earths? 
      Monstrous weight, that can, 
            if you like, be lifted 

by the work of bees: 
      a miracle none foretold.
            Let’s say of art 

that it thinks differently
      about the shape of mushrooms 
            we picked together 

on Saturday—we don’t know 
      anything about them, 
            except two hours of fun 

in paddocks: the biosphere 
      and adventure ours. No one’s 
            going nowhere 

but the infinity of our own 
      creative purpose, arriving 
            at a place unknown.
Standard