lemon tree

lemon tree
september 2010

A Weathercat snapped lemon construction

even new leaves
were waxy and
crinkled,
quickly curled up,
turned brittle
crinkly leaf
was it called?
a sickness that
rose somehow
through the tree
to the tip
of leaf
and branch
snapping off
dead dry
the lemons though
were good
never picked green
for none of us picked
them too often.

the best game
our neighbour’s son
and i played was
to pick a full
yellow one, that
could hardly be
riper, slice it up
on a saucer,
bring it to my dad
working on something
out in the shed

summer afternoon

summer afternoon

are we clouds?
so fragile
in detail
a magnificence
building into
thunder?
dandelion
of the heavens
in fields of
blue? how
we lean
on a breeze
lean into

care of the river

care of the river
                          january 2018, whanganui
to my paternal grandmother Edith Lilian Bagge nee Von Sturmer, died 13 June 1923, buried Aromoho Cemetry, Whanganui

Edith Lillian Bagge (Von Sturmer) (1872 – 1923), from the family photo.

you rest
over the road
from the river
at least
your name rests
there the simplest
telling of any life
the name we sign
the best the worst
of our doings with
right to that final
peace of stone