for love

for love

when my aunty
heard the news
her grandson
her ‘boy’
she’d say
killed head-on
just starting
to fit the frame
of a grown man

come dusk

come dusk
to Franz Kafka at Plana nad Luznici*

Plana nad Luznici

come dusk    come dusk    come dusk
you’d step out with the landlady’s dog
for a long walk first to the luznice river
then across to the woods beyond the fine villas
the shrubs on empty lawns like a waltz
around them paused in mid-step
the quiet of the evening now the best
of what could be had in the darkling
through your bitter lungs, on that bench

side of a river

side of a river
      for Keikei

on riverside ave
the estuary waters
brimming to
the field’s edge
lapping under
root and grass
we called the
sea upon us

on riverside ave
we crossed the
the bar, the bar
of shadow that
would see us
parted and apart
with no compass
of heart to help
cross and find
each other
face to face
we crossed that
high sea bar the
sharks of fear in
swarm around

on riverside ave
we stood together
saw the turning
boats like leaves
the tides cannot
unloose and
knew the sails
set within would
take us into nights
we might enfold
each other in

on riverside ave
we did kneel for
summer blood
erupting through
pohutukawa
trees
those
tuatara
branches
on riverside ave
we became each
sweet other’s
prayer

riverside ave