Castor Bay (4.30 pm)

[photograph: Dr John Ross (2005)]

Castor Bay

The day your driver stopped

not halfway home

to say another bus had crashed

in Takapuna

& he’d been told

to turn around

pick up the passengers

but you got out instead

thinking it might be quicker

to walk home

only to see his tail-lights

receding

before you got halfway there

your feet started to hurt

in those damned sandals

until you tried

that one surefire shortcut

that took so much longer

& you felt

not so much alive

as if you ought to feel

something like that

Sunnynook (11.00 am)

[photograph: Jack Ross (2006)]

We were soldiers

not me I wasn’t
actor
in other men’s wars

Tonight I took the car out
for a spin
in moonlight
starting at shadows

Today I stayed at home
alone at home
same’s true
of yesterday

Tomorrow?
Off to hunt
the foxes
from their holes

Mairangi Bay (9.30 am)

[photograph: Jack Ross (2006)]

The Asbestos Hands of Dr. J.

The sparrow inside
my letterbox
hopped out

when he caught my eye

•

Patron Saint
Atticus
Memorial Day
6 November
Martyred in Phrygia
Nothing else
is known about him

•

3 in the morning
mosquito-net
tangled

around me
car-alarms
still howling

overhead
I tot up
the crapola

that I’ve written
Not a lot
to kindle

when I’m dead