it is mine

it is mine is published in ‘The Kiwi Diary 2013‘.

Cover art by Lauren Stewart.

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it is mine

filtered Otago light
gently criss-crosses my face
as I amble beneath black beech
singing songs to riflemen
wafting words upon the breeze
from a carpet of moss and mulch
that embraces my feet
with the security of the
land of my birth
i am home
i am Kiwi
and this mud
between my toes
it is mine

Wrestling with Life

Hot summer’s day
gentle breeze
breathing through
sun drenched poplar
under wide open naked sky

trenchant scent
hide-out and huts
freshly cut macrocarpa
sinuating lazily though
our kitchen window

noon time meal
luscious lamb chops
butter drenched new potatoes
peas and beans
strawberries and cream

the soft whirr
like shearer’s clippers
a blackish blemish
and endless more
obscures our vision

a scratching, a scurrying
of escalating speed
a wallop and snapping
as pudgy pooch meets fat fly

succulent saliva slapping of jaws
royal dog wrestles insipid insect
buzzing blurs and fly flags
every casualty has a dozen lino lunges
for careless carefree bottom wagging corgi

clattering of dishes
under a windowed vista
of bleating sheep and distant road
draining suds
on red plastic dish tray

back door opens
for fleeing kids and corgi
doors and windows slamming shut
CFCs aerosol spraying
sentencing blowies to the eternal break-dance in the sky

North Otago afternoon
tractor chunters into life
shimmering salt spray
mirages with road dust
and squawking gulls

gorse glows golden
green grass graces
meandering hills
milk and two sugars
a chipped mug cuppa tea

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Thank you so much for reading ‘out for lunch’. If you would like to contribute, please do. Thanks Kel.