WORK IN PROGRESS plus a poem

MANUSCRIPT TO BE ON EDITOR'S DESK BY END OF MARCH.  Oh my goodness, what did I promise back in November? Did I forget how hard it is to get all the poems together and then edit and re-edit and maybe edit some more - it's like herding chickens - and it is summer outside! I have on my table here 60+ poems (remembering that they are really 60+ minimal stories) that then have to be put into a sequence to make some sort of coherence to tell a bigger story.

The editing is finally done. The shuffling of poems into a sequence has started, clipped together in groupings, and over the next week I am sure I'll shuffle and shuffle again until I am content - not until then will come putting all the editing from hard copies onto computer and transfer all the poems into a new file.

Mothers’ Day 

In the café

at a table

sits a girl and a man.

She is around twenty

- a granddaughter perhaps?

to the businessman image

who casually reports

to why the graze on his face.

It is nothing –

he had parked the car,

it was dark, a branch,

that’s how it was done,

and he continues to eat.

She lifts the corner of her napkin

and carefully spits on the corner,

“there, there, all better,”

as she dabs the wet to his cheek.

(The mother-words, the mother-cure

for the hurts and bumps of little boys)

His deep lined face falls askew

- without a sound

he cries

and cries

and cries

She is nonplussed.

What did she do?

Copyright: from "DAISY HILL-  home is where the hat is."

RECYCLING TREES - POEM

.New Zealand Forest Giants
 

Rimu Tree

Kauri Tree

One Hundred Years After Their Demise

the Gods are Recycled

Hail Ancient Ones!

Hail

Pahiatua

Kanapa

Tirorangi

Haere mai

our Chieftan Kauri

lost from our eyes

for the last hundred years

- you of the gold blood

who whispered our songs

into the ears of the sun.

Hail!

Maungatua

Maiki

Te Kiteroa

our Elder Rimu,

the wise ones who held

the sky to the land

as it struggled to stride away:

you also we wailed for

at your going,

Gods of our heart.

We thought we had lost you for ever

but, pah!

No one could diminish your power,

though men tried, men tried,

when they roughly dismembered

your reign

of two hundred, a hundred more,

a thousand years.

Welcome.

Haere mai.

It is good to see you again

- the swirl of your mere,

the fierce glare of your eye,

the fire of your soul

glows alive in your flesh.

Haere mai. Haere mai.

We see you arise, renewed

under the artisan’s hand,

you:

Pahiatua

Kanapa

Tirorangi

Maungatua

Maiki

Te Kiteroa

now fragmented and multiplied

and brought into our homes

as a chest of drawers, table, chair.

The people (your people),

know who we host.

We honour our guests.

We invite you in.

Haere mai. Haere mai. Haere mai.

key:

Pahiatua :     resting place of a god

Kanapa:       shining

Tirorangi:     skypiercer

Maungatua:  mountain of spirits

Maiki:          the high place

Te Kiteroa:   the long view

these translations of the names given to the Kauri and Rimu trees in this poem came from ‘A Dictionary of Maori Place Names’ by A.W. Reed.

Poem Copyright: Lois E Broom and from "Daisy Hill - home is where the hat is."

I used to work as a salesperson for a company that made the most amazing furniture out of recycled timber - mainly Kauri and Rimu that they sourced from some of the most unusual places. More often than not interesting flaws would be left in them by the craftsmen which made the furniture very individual and recognisable . The particular quality of Kauri is that it is a soft wood and easy to work and has the sort of grain which refracts light and I would be hurrying down the showroom, when a beam of sunlight caught the table and as I passed it would flash light out at me. I never tired of going back to watch it happen again. Rimu is a much harder wood and has a rich golden to red grain, the more intense in grain and colour as it gets closer to being heart wood.

Table made from Kauri wood 

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND

THE HEIGHT OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON ENDS THIS WEEKEND.

The main rush of New Zealand's annual holidays runs from a week before Christmas to the  end of the second week of January.

It took a while for summer to make up its mind to come and visit us, but it did not stop the holiday makers from coming. Then when the summer said it hadn't forgotten  us after all, suddenly all the holiday rentals were booked and those of us who kept them ready for the incoming were run off our feet.

Of course, 2 - 3 weeks was not long enough after people visited the Island. As one guest said, this Island has got everything for a perfect get away from it all : " It's close to the bush, close to the water and close to Auckland." Then the next comment always is, how much does it cost to buy a place here? So today I delved into the New Zealand TradeMe site to give a selection.  Keeping in mind that $1,000 NZ = $705.30 US = $666.95 Euro

Of course everyone would like Mansion House, the historic house in the park which has a whole bay to itself. There seems to be two definite choices to make - being right on the waterfront and in the middle of the action with your boat at the bottom of your lawn, or tucked away in your own private sanctuary up on the hills. 

http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-1211212078.htm 

http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-1147905305.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-996177316.htm 

http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-1179481500.htm 

http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential/sections-for-sale/auction-1178744907.htm

 http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-996177316.htm

NEWS FROM THE ISLAND

WHERE THE TOURISTS DON'T GO

Off on a walk

 After my previous post I thought I would show some of the places I have found when I leave main walking paths and as there are hidden magical places on the Island that few know of and glorious  ancient trees that have not caught D of C's attention

Pinaster Pine approx 150 years old and would have been planted in Sir George Grey's time.

Pohutakawa is so old it doesn't flower anymore - I have named it the Kuan Yin tree after one of my Buddhist friends, so impressed by the this tree, climbed up high into its branches and placed a medallion of her there, that had previosly been blessed by the Lama Sampton, so as to keep the tree safe.

How many decades has this moss taken to grow considering it grows so exceedingly slowly

wallaby track

Hidden pond

Another track through the bush

I know where the self-seeded Passionfruit vines grow

And here is a quiet pool in a stream, pity the photograph doesn't show how it was sparkling in the filtered sunlight today.