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

Upper Harbour Highway (6.00 pm)

[photograph: Jack Ross (2006)]

Tentacles of Destruction

Machines alone have realised that sleep is no longer permitted
– W. G. Sebald, Vertigo

Inconceivably melancholy
traffic lights
against the sky

You might be lucky
they might just go away

just at that moment
when the blue
turns black

ours was foaming
at least our dog gets plenty

a deeper blue
the evening
before you

there’s stuff that you can get
our daughter got a husky

fade in
Great Lash
the sea

Massey Campus (9.00 am)

[photograph: Jack Ross (2006)]

Cruisy morning, eh?

White haze above the hills
of Albany

“pools of fir”
(H.D.)

or “sooty altars”
(Curnow)

cracker stuff
I like the crosses, man

sparrows bob
across the cobbles

high heels click to class

[First published in Bravado 2 (2004): 22].