A SELECTION OF NEW ZEALAND POETRY

A.R.D. Fairburn (190457)

WALKING ON MY FEE
hitched up my bundle
went down the street
long way to go
walking on my feet
went past Charleys
didnt turn in
broke to the wide
had a good spin
toting my gunny
hit the south road
long way to go
got a heavy load
tired already
walking on my feet
dust in my mouth
and damn this heat
bloke just passed
had a spare seat
left me behind
walking on my feet
all my life
always on the go
keep on doing
the old heel and toe
put one in front
then put the other
same old way
I learnt from my mother
blister on my heel
dont know when Ill eat
same old business
walking on my feet
I know where Im going
walking on my feet
reckon when I get there
Ill be dead beat
wont get a woman
wont find gold
pockets will be empty
bed will be cold
never will be worried
never want a snack
dont worry lady
I wont be back
I know where Im going
where Ill lie down
nice quiet place
long way from town
long way to go
Ill sleep all alone
fingers round the earth
earth round the bone
living rent free
on easy street
never any more
go walking on my feet
A..!. "airburn
A SELECTION OF NEW ZEALAND POETRY
D!ni" G#$%!r 191&'19(0
A W$)an *+$,,in-
D!ni" G#$%!r 191&'19(0
+! .$!/
#eauty goes into the butcher$s shop
%here blood taints the air&
'he chopper comes down on the block
And she pats her hair.
!eath$s gallery hangs ready
(aked of hair and hide)
#ut she has clothes on her body
And a heart inside.
%hat$s death to the lady) pray*
+ven shopping$s a bore.
,'he carcasses gently sway
As she goes out the door.
#ut death goes with her on the way-
In her basket along the street
olls heavily against her thigh
'he blood,red bud of the meat.
.ou will find him up the mountainside
/r lurking in a drain.
0e has no merriness of mind.
'he 1oet is insane.
0e$ll intercept you in the street
%hen you are late for dinner.
0e$ll take the racebook from your hand
%hen you$re brooding on a winner.
.ou girls) beware the 1oet
%hen he$s talkative and gay
0e$ll invite you to the pictures
And of course you$ll have to pay.
0e invites himself to parties.
%ill someone kindly throttle
'he 1oet and his shaggy friends
%ho never bring a bottle*
.ou will meet him on the station.
.ou will meet him in the pub.
.ou will never beat the 1oet
'ill you beat him with a club.
A SELECTION OF NEW ZEALAND POETRY
D!ni" G#$%!r 191&'19(0
+! Ma-,i!"
D!ni" G#$%!r 191&'19(0
'he 0uman #oss
%hen 'om and +li2abeth took the farm
'he bracken made their bed
and 3uardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
'he magpies said
'om$s hand was strong to the plough
and +li2abeth$s lips were red
and 3uardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
'he magpies said
.ear in year out they worked
while the pines grew overhead
and 3uardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
'he magpies said
#ut all the beautiful crops soon went
to the mortgage man instead
and 3uardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
'he magpies said
+li2abeth is dead now 4it$s long ago5
/ld 'om$s gone light in the head
and 3uardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
'he magpies said
'he farms still there. 6ortgage corporations
couldn$t give it away
and 3uardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
'he magpies say.
A visiting American professor as sai! tat
Ne" Zea#an! emp#o$ers are too %man in teir
attit%!es&
6y boss is awful kind to me)
0e holds me by the hand)
And when I happen to be late
0e says) $I understand.$
7ometimes I don$t turn up at all.
0e never seems to mind.
6y boss is almost human)
A credit to mankind.
$I$m going out for half an hour
'o play the 'A#.$
And while I take my double
0e will make the morning tea)
And put the milk and sugar in
And butter me my bun.
%orking for a man like that
6akes working really fun.
7ometimes we get the orders out)
And sometimes we do not-
'he weather may be far too cold
/r may be far too hot.
$'hese urgent customers)$ he says)
$'hey all talk tommy rot.$
A very human man) my boss)
I$d trust him with my life.
0e wept with human pleasure
%hen I ran off with his wife.
A SELECTION OF NEW ZEALAND POETRY
A##!n 0urn$1 48988,:;;85
Lan23a## in 4n5n$1n *!a"
7imply by sailing in a new direction
.ou could enlarge the world.
.ou picked your captain)
<een on discoveries) tough enough to make
them)
%hatever vessels could be spared from other
6ore urgent service for a year$s adventure&
'ook stock of the more probable conjectures
About the =nknown to be traversed) all
>uesses at golden coasts and tales of monsters
'o be digested into plain instructions
"or likely and unlikely situations.
All this resolved and done) you launched the
whole
/n a fine morning) the best time of year)
7kies widening and the oceanic furies
7ubdued by summer illumination& time
'o go and be ga2ed at going
/n a fine morning) in the (ame of >od
Into the nameless waters of the world.
A SELECTION OF NEW ZEALAND POETRY
6$n! u1+ar! 489:: ? :;;@5
.r$2i-a# 0i/7
6$n! u1+ar! 489:: ? :;;@5
N$ Or2inar7 *un
I walked the city last night
stopping to take everything in-
walking on again in the rain
In the rain in sandals
wet feet slip,slopping-
I didn$t mind
barely hearing the whine and throb
of trolley,bus
wriggling my squeegee toes to gawp
at the mill and swirl of people
multi,coloured and lit up like birthday
candles
And the City seemed
the same lovely woman I used to know
grown somewhat more ample more assured
with new baubles on display
7o this is you I said embracing her- you
are wearing well
.ou don$t look too bad yourself she said-
how about some ja22*
I$ll have some of that I said
Come then- in this cellar the music
is clipped and punctual
warm and pulsing underneath she said
clicking her fingers
And my feet slip,slopped as I walked the
City last night with the rain on my rain,coat
tapping
'ree let your arms fall-
raise them not sharply in supplication
to the bright enhaloed cloud.
Aet your arms lack toughness and
resilience for this is no mere aBe
to blunt nor fire to smother.
.our sap shall not rise again
to the moons pull.
(o more incline a deferential head
to the winds talk) or stir
to the tickle of coursing rain.
.our former shagginess shall not be
wreathed with the delightful flight
of birds nor shield
nor cool the ardour of unheeding
lovers from the monstrous sun.
'ree let your naked arms fall
nor eBtend vain entreaties to the radiant ball.
'his is no gallant monsoons flash)
no dashing trade winds blast.
'he fading green of your magic
emanations shall not make pure again
these polluted skies . . . for this
is no ordinary sun.
/ tree
in the shadowless mountains
the white plains and
the drab sea floor
your end at last is written.
A SELECTION OF NEW ZEALAND POETRY
G#$ria La1"$n
.ARINGON8* MILL9 A40KLAND
(1(51 ' 1950)
I$d rather silence than elegies
I$d rather my ghostly childhood
stayed asleep in the city,that,was
and not get up and wander about
in search of landmarks. I don$t care
much that these taller whiter
multi,windowed arrogant towers
have disinherited the once,there
'Te$ call it progress5) and I don$t miss
the grey shabby sun,peeled buildings
but inwardly) involuntarily
I do bewail your airy absence
windmill ; windmill
turning your pitchpine sails
on the ridge behind the colonial town.
years have gathered into decades
since the commercially minded 'hey
pulled you out like an old tooth
filled the gap with a motor business
and left the skyline gaping where
you stood turning) grinding) turning.
7o I can$t say now to a child
as my mother said 4and I
sick abed by the hospital window5
CAast night$s storm ripped one off
but see) it works on '0++ >//! 7AIA7DC
7ing its beauty* (o.
1icturesque* 6mmmm.
6akes a charming print
sketched) painted) snapped-
steadfast as a #uddha
squat in its rutty lane
or high on its leafy ridge
in days of the learning artist
in days when tourists fiddled
their cameras to $get it in.$
"or me a disconnection
between time and times
as when parents say
CAre you still our child*C
As when a lover says
E6y dear) theres no more meaning.F
%ho in the end are 'hey
that steal away our landmarks*
7een up close is where
the 1resent glitters
seen afar is where
the wind blows
nowhere
A SELECTION OF NEW ZEALAND POETRY
A#b!r/ W!n2/
M$$n Marria-!
A#b!r/ W!n2/
La%a Fi!#2 an2 R$a29 *a%a+
It is raining outside.
'he moon curls in
through the louvres and snuggles
down between us as we lie
unable to dispel the fatal silences
which now punctuate our marriage
and determine) like colons) the perfectly
grammatical cruelties we inflict
on each other.
!own in the lagoon) flying,fish
jump like flashing pinwheels
to the fisherman$s flare
and barbed spear.
Aisten to the rain spinning
away to a fine humming needle
stitching moonlight thread
into the sea) the scales
of flying,fish dead in the canoe.
6oon) remain with us
in all your gentleness)
whisper to us of forgiveness.
'he naked road dips and dances)
slips) stumbles and crawls
on bleeding knees across
impartial lava
under a sky stripped
of the voice of birds
and feathered wings
beating to cool the sun.
(o trees where shadows
may nest) no artful gods
dare live here but li2ards
rustling through healed scars
in the face of the black land hard
as the noon sun$s blade,the mask
of 0iroshima twisting from mountain
ridge to sea.
'his lava for a thousand
years will not crumble
to wind,blown dust.
'his was the world$s
beginning,the fire gods
lacerating their bodies
with shell knives,the blood
breaking from mountain$s wounds
congealed black and cold) then the silence
of the closed sepulchre door
that opened to the miracle
of resurrection when lava decayed
and green fingers broke to the sun.