Sleight of Mind

Promise

2006-10-07T18:07:00.000+13:00

Cup empty of tea,mind bereft of inspiration,wind shuffling through thenew leaves of the plum tree,branches bouncing in the sun withspring afternoon promise.He turns to touch her hand,the one resting on the keyboardwaiting for the wordsof her latest poemto reach her fingers.

In Perfection

2006-08-05T00:15:00.000+12:00

FirstIbeachcombocean’s gifts.Nature’s beauty servedabundantly, softly, wildly.Counting the sand grains sifting through my hands, I wonder…Clanculus pharaonius fragments may have drifted to our shores, an artist's dream, then In a perfect moment of connection nature and I coalesce, I become the colours, patterns, korus and golden mean, ,,,,,, the nexus.

Integration

2006-07-26T21:20:00.000+12:00

I hold you in my palmstwo objects in my left,one in the right. iHarsh, sharp, hotheld in the leftyou glowermandarin orangejagged, searing, heavyyou are dominant- changeiiSecond object flatalso in the leftyou are a blue-violet planegolf ball rubber band texturesmall, flubbery, coolinconsequential- movementiiiafter inconsequential acquiescesto dominanceyou come togetheryour currency of

Synesthetic Time

2006-07-25T15:48:00.000+12:00

Reading youfires neuroneslong ago left for dead.My mind coloursa million possibilities,and a myriad of futureshover between a spectrumof clearness and light.Time takes onthe momentum of a surf wavewith decades morphinginto the turquoise depthsof a thousand centuries.Consciousnessremains intimately bereftof the experiencein a parallel life.And death is a violent splash in the moment of a rainbow.

Ad Infinitum - In response to Heart String Theory

2006-07-25T11:09:00.000+12:00

I move backwards into the future comtemplating previous lives confronting choices ….considering points, lines, several tangents with twists folding then unfolding creating, multiplying, diminishing expanding, changing, collapsing, enlightening, loving, dying I turn, we exist, into infinityTo read Heart String Theory by Crunchy Weta go to:Crunchy Weta: Heart String Theory

Bent

2006-06-30T18:45:00.000+12:00

Her hair sweeps the carpetas she arches her bodybending over backwardsto unravel the braidingof your thoughtsyour words. Chinks of sunlightshine in her tresseswhile piece by final peacean understanding flourishes. She straightensthen standsgiddy with the lossof blood to her headand losses of another kindshe sitsto imaginestroking your suede cheek.

Many of you

2006-06-22T17:39:00.000+12:00

iYou didn’t comelocked awayin your room of dreamsto heal a body and mindlost in the wantingof a man who is no longer there.iiIt was a partyof some couplesand a couple of hopefulsAn array of humanity… iiiYour gift, your bone carvingis a thing of much beautyof some significance and lost hope.I watch you polish it with prideyour gnarled 50’ish year old handsholding it away from yourmick jagger eyes

Twilight Time

2006-06-22T16:59:00.000+12:00

Will I rememberthe sting of your stories,the whip of your words? In the miasmaof muddled meaningsI fall asleepto catch snatchesand echoesVoicesfrom the endarkenedcupboards of my mind

Fee

2006-06-09T19:47:00.000+12:00

It is greatto hear you talk,our voices tripping over,playing chaseyas we chat.I swore I’d ring you soona year ago,but life ran away with time.

Parenting

2006-05-30T20:16:00.000+12:00

I greet youwith arms I wishwere coveredwith velvet,to soften the blowsof a hundredmisfortunes.When I helpto pick upthe piecesI hold them gently,privately acknowledgingthe part theyplay in makingyou strong.

Autumn sun - Haiku

2006-05-27T11:42:00.000+12:00

Though it is autumnsun shines through the cabbage treeimbuing its warmth.

May Haiku

2006-05-27T11:39:00.000+12:00

Under dark storm cloudsThe deep emerald sea churnsPassing gulls cry out

Kina

2006-05-27T11:12:00.000+12:00

Photo I based my painting on

Marking Time

2006-05-27T10:40:00.000+12:00

While ithas beena gradual weekthere have been moments of punctuation.Question marks around the unknown,times when the brief pause of a comma was required,a period of full-stops,and events of exclamation mark proportions.

Haiku 06

2006-05-23T20:01:00.000+12:00

Earth sighs and drinks upSpent leaves float atop puddlesSorrows last seasons

Naive Simplicity

2006-05-23T19:20:00.000+12:00

Your brother is bornwhile you sift the incrediblefrom the yeti and bigfootpages on the internet.You whistle the theme tunefrom the X-files, and becometransfixed with the factsof science fiction.Your brother is born andyou look for lost marbles,your eight year old mindmissing the miracle by a mile.

It's a kiwi thing

2006-05-16T21:12:00.000+12:00

While the radio talked to itselfabout the day’s newswe woke up and made love.Then in the time it took for ourshadows to do a one-eightyyou had flown away tothe island of snow,towards the mourning soundsof mutton birders.

Draining

2006-05-14T13:58:00.000+12:00

To save us from drowningin a cityside pool of sky tearsyou don cardboard clothescaked in the mud of yesterdayto dig a trench around our souls

Ether-reality

2006-05-11T14:48:00.000+12:00

Whispers,ethereal visitations,your sojourn a frolic of frivolities.Muse for a momenton your beneficence, your abilities...Under some daylighttree out there you too may turn yourhand to a poem

Emotional Ephemera

2006-05-07T14:32:00.000+12:00

It is slippery todayforcing it causes falsenessand failureBetter left to its own devicesdevilish vicesdevilish voices.Minds wander toplaces best left unvisited. Yet yesterdayit was sunny side uprunning...outstretched armsagainst the mirthof the southerly windon a west coast beachwhere the gods werethrashing about in the water.Eating mangoes to thegoing

Threads

2006-05-02T20:35:00.000+12:00

Old habits die hard.Adjusting to changeI wait three phases of lightsbefore choosing my green.Your unmet daughteris born and starts school.Visitors must comein the back doorand leave by the frontso there is no opportunityto bump into recognised sorrows.Rommel’s cave was tidierthan I expected.Window wipersmake small changeof the leaveson the windscreen.Light sees its opportunity. Is that why all

Do you know who you are?

2006-05-02T19:17:00.000+12:00

We have not met in two decadesand as synchronicity would have itwe still haven’t.I imagine what those yearsand too many indulgent viceshave rendered.You were never good at self care.I remember your bedroom....sad love poemsbursting out of drawsand your naked pillowexposing its stainsfrom the perspirationof sleepless nights

First Day of School

2006-04-30T19:57:00.000+12:00

The five year old climbsthe stile with her motherand walks across the school fieldtowards wherethe microphone mantalks to the children at lunchtime.She has heard his electric voice echoover the fence for monthsand looks forwardto seeing his facewith excited anticipation.Today is her day.Under her new white shoesis the moist autumn grasswith the dew of the dayhanging in feathery clutchesamongst

Shadows and silhouettes

2006-04-30T19:32:00.000+12:00

Face lies on pillowcreases will be imprintedon cheek for visitors to seeif any would come. She is more concernedwith opening and closingher eyesone at a timerepeatedlyone at a timeand watching howthe long gray shadowof the doorway movesup and downup and downquickly and slowlydepending onthe speed of openingher eyesone at a time. In the flickerof alternate eye closingand openingShe can seethe

Ineffability

2006-04-18T21:37:00.000+12:00

Therehave beenno written words norany wordsthat speak adequately ofan emotionso profoundly whole. Isearch fornon existent wordsWhatI seekremains sacred, nameless

Scars on the Heart (for Clarence Moss, aka Papa Steve)

2006-04-04T20:15:00.000+12:00

You were a telegram boy, thena machine gunner in the warwhen you saw and did things thatwould have left scars on your heart(and we complain about the weather)You married your first wife’s sisteryou were a father to four boystwo of whom were not yoursyou would have had scars on your heart(and we mither about the traffic)The telegram boy saw technological changesin a lifetime that went fromthe

Dreams

2006-03-27T17:14:00.000+12:00

I meet old school friendsin a house owned by a collector of rocksThe house is familiarand I know I have been there before. I am driving down a country roadin the summer lookingfor a shopthat sells dogs. I am at the top of wooden stairswatching a dark haired little girlwith the whitest of teethand the reddest of dresses walk towards me.I am in a boatwith an ex boyfriendsailing in the

Needs

2006-03-27T16:50:00.000+12:00

A maddening thirstfor knowledge,…enlightenment All encompassing hungerfor food,…love A beleaguering urgeto write,…create An aching desirefor sex,… you

Gentle obsessions

2006-03-26T15:45:00.000+12:00

A seventy eight year old lady,Daphne lived in a state house in St Johns.She would go shoppingonly on a Tuesday.The food was fresheron a Tuesday she saidand the taxi driver she likedwas on duty.She was meticulouswhen she chose her vegetables.The kumara had to be the right shapeso she could hold itin her small hand to peel.It had to be smooth, no bumpsso the peeler would slide over it.Her kitchen

Another day

2006-03-23T16:21:00.000+12:00

An old green Vauxhall velox with itsbonnet of orange and its boot tied down with stringveers off the northwestern motorwayits wannabe hippy driver not sure of where he’s going An 8 year old blonde boybig for his age, stubs his toeas his ‘friend’ teases him for being fatHe swears at his teacher and cries An old small stooped

God

2006-03-15T19:44:00.000+13:00

Morning arrivesI return from the bathroomafter washing off yesterdayand pull up the Holland blindthat you used as a canvasfor painting godHe spins around the rollerthen I put on my makeupget into my office clothesand step into today

Fauxhemian Ways

2006-03-14T20:25:00.000+13:00

To fit in socially you:wear a pair of ripped jeans;affect a “don’t give a toss” air;pay for a small tattoo;buy drugs from the cute guy at work;dye your hair in odd colours;start reading beat poetry;and consider purchasinga parrot for your shoulder.

Paice Ave Expats

2006-03-13T21:41:00.000+13:00

Listening to blues on black vinyl,playing bass on the bed.Flatmates philosophisingand meaningfully organisingblue meany mushroom party postersto glue to any city flat surface.Kittens and cats clambered couchesand lentil stews simmered slowly.We shared beds, plants, trips, cars,angst, anxiety, laughs, love and life.We were free, frivolous and flatting.

Winter holiday

2006-03-08T20:34:00.000+13:00

The sunny season is winding up,the evenings are drawing in.The sound of Jack Johnsonmeanders through the open windowwhile you weedand trade chat about plansfor summer holidays in winter.I dream of a translucent warm seawith a surfeit of tropical fish. You pull out our agapanthus,no more will its bent seedheadsbob in the evening’s humidity.Even the vibrancy of the

Megan

2006-03-05T13:34:00.000+13:00

It seemslike justthe other daywhen you would sitin your jewelcoloured silk scarveson your bluecushion covered sofaand chat to me,your granddaughter,about the news,art, poetrytravel and lovewith your sparklingalive vibrancyand gesticulationsthat so piqued mycuriosity.Your colourful homeoverflowed withsecretive littledraws and cupboardsfilled with ivorytreasures andobjects with her storiesand

Sometimes

2006-02-27T16:57:00.000+13:00

acache ofpleasure moments is required so Ican retrievethem

Growing up too fast

2006-02-19T13:34:00.000+13:00

I watch youas your drunken motherstaggers amongstthe crowd ofrock music diehards.Her tired shoeswhich youclutch in your handare the leastof your burden.Your ten year old bodybends with the weightof anxietyand the backpackcarrying promisesand food.Your eyes dartwith embarrassmentas she weavesback and forth.Your pleaof desperation"can we please go home"not heardover the crowd,the music and

Alone

2006-02-17T20:16:00.000+13:00

As he moveshe bundles it up -the flotsam, jetsamof thoughts, letters,photos, and the sleevefrom the t-shirt of agood lover.Old jewelleryand some gold jewellerygets tangled upamongst itself He is reluctantto relinquishthe bundles and tanglesscared that in doingso a piece of himselfmight also go missingLike others, he seekssomeone whowill finally look, really see,truly

Change of Heart

2006-02-17T19:50:00.000+13:00

She reached premisesbased on promisesmade when lovewas in bloom life changing moveswere then effectedand then hechanges his tune How can she danceto this new song?Listening to lyrics thathurt heart and sear soul.

Holiday Weekend

2006-02-12T11:56:00.000+13:00

The water flows inand flows outwashing the plastics,and glass from cityboatie’s picnicsto this night’s tideline. The island's seaweedheaves and sighswhile in the distancephosphorescence glistensin the enlightening evening.I also sighas the gibbous moondroops over the seapointing towards a returnto the throngof the metropolis.This is the last nightof a perfect islandsummer holiday retreat.

New School

2006-02-06T20:45:00.000+13:00

Imade adecision in Maybasingyour futureon my currentdreams.My hopesbeget your change.

Changes

2006-02-06T11:54:00.000+13:00

Memories hangamong cobwebswhile tuisplay in thegrowing pohutukawasof your youth'sgarden of kisses.I move treasuresgathered fromthe beachof your past,to dustthe shelves.I rearrange the shells,beginningto makemy mark.I can hearthe southwest windas it whips upits whitecapson the deepveridian hauraki gulfcarrying the futureto the clay cliffdoorstepsof your heart's home

On the bench

2006-02-02T17:35:00.000+13:00

You are spent nowyour years of youthful charismaand man about town popularitywearied by age and tan suits. To go with the tan suityou wear a garish red necktie(who dressed you this morning?)trying to collar the powerthat your charmonce proffered.Not grasping thefashion of the day,another symptomof loss. In your day you struttedand

Cool grass

2006-01-25T19:50:00.000+13:00

Sheeschews shoes,feet baring witness

Dissonance

2006-01-25T18:21:00.000+13:00

Youscope outthe social landscape calibratinginteraction's riskwith paranoia's perception

Hakanoa Street

2006-01-20T16:59:00.000+13:00

Whenliving northernhemisphere winter afternoons Iwould recallHakanoa Street summers offeringshade shelteringPlane tree leaves tothe suburbanheat's asylum seekers

Moving on?

2006-01-18T17:08:00.000+13:00

I have returned hometo my childhood's streetto the rhythm of youthand my concrete cast feetWhere a penny liesjust a few houses awayin my grandmother's garagewhere I used to play

I wanted

2006-01-18T16:49:00.000+13:00

totear downthe nigrescent skytotallypulverise thelove song radiodrownin duplicity'slegacy of longingIwanted torake your heart

Exploration

2006-01-17T16:50:00.000+13:00

Digging deep intothe mind's abyssyou will finda lot amissred and bloodycut and runamputationsjust for funbarbed wire neckbraceglass shard wreckspain and ecstasyinsane sex

Extremes

2006-01-17T11:17:00.000+13:00

Beautyis acatalyst for reactionRaisingdesires ofnakedness and immersiona longing tosubsume and consumeTo satisfy Iwant tobathenaked in themusselbeds ofWednesdayand eat myaged thesaurusimmediately

Longing

2006-01-17T09:55:00.000+13:00

I want you to make love to me today preferably in the kumara pits so we can include the sun. Deep fuck me You know the one... the slow... so slow... deep... so deep fuck which reaches that inner ache of exquisiteness, transcending order and chaos,...that nirvana moment

Sweetness

2006-01-16T18:52:00.000+13:00

Youget upto open cupboardsSearchingfor fleetingfixes of sweetnessIseek belatedly,to find emptinessWrappers,offering absolutelynothing at allIlove yourobsession for chocolate

Remembering

2005-12-20T20:06:00.000+13:00

My mind rotateseyes cryingonto the old arm chairPeeling paintframes my memoriesSpoon clickingmotor bike ridingjeans rubbingtattoos destroyedthe smell of pub piesThen the stiletto glare of a light bulbcracks my thoughts

More Anger '83

2005-12-20T20:04:00.000+13:00

Stuck at home looking at the leaves scattered on the floor The clock ticks I flick the flies from my arm and seethe

Another life

2005-12-20T19:51:00.000+13:00

No more nightsspent wandering the streets in the rainsearching for soul and maturityspirituality and sanityYou are nearly forgotten nowJust a bad taste in my mouthI was over your Cyprus reminiscingand your red indian ramblingsYour cavalry cap has been dumpedyour steel strings and guitar goneThe originals must stink nowlike the memory of sunglasses, incense and red lightsSay goodbye to the mother

Thursday

2005-12-20T19:29:00.000+13:00

Lonely moonhovering fully above the bridgeof the turquoise harbourAnd the city speeds onwhile its citizensargue over the pinot grisand the pinot noir

Jehovah's Witnesses

2005-12-20T18:58:00.000+13:00

Here’s to youyour future’s plannedon your elitist worldin a fool’s paradise land

Addendum to Crashing Recognition

2005-12-13T22:43:00.000+13:00

I feel extremely luckyit wasn’t quite our timebut the injury I’ve gotis to make my poems rhyme This ode is plainly hideousbut I really can’t be fussedtaste has left the buildingand I must be quite concussed

Crashing Recognition

2005-12-13T21:58:00.000+13:00

Driving up the northernat sixty miles an hourstopping for the roadworkschanging down the power Bang, my head gets thrown backfoot stays hard on brakeeyes fly up to mirrorhands, legs begin to shake You lost concentrationrammed your vehicle into mineyou rush to give your detailsyour

Rakino sojourn

2005-12-11T20:09:00.000+13:00

Four,you two, we two.Like the wind,from different directions,blowing over our paths.Together,briefly.Becoming familiar,intimate.Lives interweavingduring a Rakino sojourn.

Intimate offering

2005-11-30T20:49:00.000+13:00

Take me downinto the heaves and rushesof your tumultuous ponderances,and I will, with willowed stick,begone those noisome addlenigs.

Koru

2005-11-22T20:40:00.000+13:00

Slivery and silvery,tiny seashell pebblesslip into my footprintsas I walk to the water,where I bend to washthe green of my pounamublessing itand the meaning behindour partnership thatit encapsulates.The roar of the seasends the whip to my heart,which pauses briefly,fleetingly quietallowing the ache of our loveto return and return

Nicholas - 1

2005-11-13T20:27:00.000+13:00

You are wet from schoolI lift my ironing tired armsto tousle your hair

Happy Birthday Duncan (apologies to Glenn)

2005-11-12T09:48:00.000+13:00

It’s a city sun saturated dawn.Paice Ave flatmates eitherscatter to their rolesor stay in their holes,depending on the after effectsof an evening of everything. A trip to the fridge results ina yoghurt breakfastand a trip of another sort,leading to the garden of shedsand nylon couches amongstthe washing pegged to the linepatiently waiting for

87/88 summer time past time

2005-11-10T19:02:00.000+13:00

Morning

2005-11-08T21:30:00.000+13:00

I lie alone on the bed, our bedand slide over to your sidewhere the slats are set to heavyand the warm still resides. You’ve abandoned these sheets of whitefor the drone of the sunrise trafficand the call of a long blackon the way to your work. I doze off to a place not unlike realitywhere the three princes of

Saturday and Sunday in Auckland

2005-11-08T08:14:00.000+13:00

Thin rain falls on usin the warmas we step into anevening at the Auckland PhilharmoniaShe sits uprightpony tail hair falling loosely down that ramrod spinenot quite touching the backof the chair of steelthighs open as herlegs clad in blackstraddle the celloarms and handsinstruments of passionas they moveintent on the rhythm……stilleto sophisticationGlaring midday sunfavours usas we beat our feetin

Title fight

2005-11-05T17:17:00.000+13:00

Polarised disguisewhich frame your eyesanalgesics for dulling the painThe blood - it dripsfrom nose to lipsBig money to get punch drunk again

Banjo

2005-11-04T21:40:00.000+13:00

It was ‘83I remember the ritual rolling updown shotgun alleybefore the live poetry readingsat the Globethe drug taking is vividthe details subsequent to those ritualsfade into the haze of illucidityI can’t recall if we went on Tuesdaysor Thursdays, but it was a ‘T’ daythen after the poetryit was afters at Just Desserts,and after the afterswe are back in the flatwhere I listen toyour live poetry

Purple Haze

2005-11-04T21:38:00.000+13:00

We played atpreciousnesswith that purpleweed we smokedwhile sittingin those 70's lounge suitesin the 80's backyardamongst the overgrown grasson those languid summer days

That was Me

2005-11-03T17:00:00.000+13:00

You were one and twentyas I remember you.Perched on the paint peeled stairsoutside,with your book balancedon those slim brown legs.Writing poetrywhile listening to Dylanand learning toalliterate your lines.

Sleeplessness '83

2005-11-03T07:09:00.000+13:00

Murmers in the distancesilence from the streetticking of the timekeeperdisallowing sleep Drums of rain off rooftop’s tincreeping into mindtrying desperately to restbut peace is hard to find In this noisy, but silent, lonely roomthe plants feed off the lightwhich you fixed so easily....

2005-11-02T23:40:00.000+13:00

Rakino sunset

Rakino

2005-11-02T22:07:00.000+13:00

I thought of you this morning as I got up and looked at the skythe wintry greyness awaiting its recycling by the nightImagined you both in the dinghy over the reefHauling in fish if you were lucky and seaweed if you weren't Trudging back up the hill that always leaves us breathlesswith your catch (because you are lucky) and the rods and the fishing bagI was wondering who would go up first,the man

Tears

2005-11-02T22:01:00.000+13:00

Standing tall head upright in pride. But you cry when no-one is looking. tears of clear wipe them gently from your face of light

Lament on Lifts

2005-11-02T21:50:00.000+13:00

Wanting to clutch the naked wallsyou stand desperatelyeyeing the fluorescent roofof silencein this haven of solitude in the crowdinsecurities bouncing unspokenfrom mouth to mouthin screaming quietness

Eating me for dinner

2005-11-02T21:44:00.000+13:00

What are you going to do with me?Fry my brains?Stew my thoughts?And then slice me,piece by piecefor dessert?

Integrity Blues

2005-11-02T21:20:00.000+13:00

Your spring sky blue eyessear intentlyinto the chaos of my charactersearching out the truthscoaxing me to become wholepreventing me from splittinginto a myriad of pieces.Stare...the blueness becomes youand helps me to become me

You...

2005-11-02T20:30:00.000+13:00

If you could hear yourself as I hear you You’d be listening to the colourful jewels, of your wit, your words… their priceless ability to tease and entice my laughter (a sound I was becoming unfamiliar with). If you could see your eyes through mine You’d see a blue alive with light. If you could see your body as I do You’d see yourself move with a gentle might. You whirl

Sleight of Mind

2005-11-02T20:26:00.000+13:00

I wonder whereyou are now?My muse for a momentuntil the drugsand the drinkand your sleight of mindthrew me to the wall

Checking In

2005-11-02T20:17:00.000+13:00

The sunlight soaksmy bedroom curtainswhen I wakeI check my mindlike a mother checks her childHow are we today?