Auckland Poetry

Land and Sea

The land belongs to the sea and the sea belongs to thee
The way I figure it is our ancestors came from the sea
Sure they were lizards, fat lazy old lizards but before they
walked about pushing trees over or fighting it out
smashing exoskeleton against exskeleton
- bits broke off and dust clouded our view - they emerged from the deep

The land belongs to the sea as it grew out of
it
borne out of itself
before the land
was water - water

water everywhere you looked

who is to say when land
first appeared and the first creature
staked a claim to it

sought to dominate by saying it
belonged to it

the land belongs to the sea
and the sea, it belongs to thee

Now is the King of the Land holed up in his fortress
immune to the odd attack?
As his defenses were extreme
the army in his pay laid everything to waste
they wanted to kill murder and rape
they were rewarded with titles and slaves
and claimed that land
but it already belonged to the place.

They would only be conquered
by the King of the Sea.

Thinking their towers of stone
were held together fast with hard mud
thinking the army held it together
by titular examples of valour (by thugs)
thinking their actions
would provide villages for children
to watch them poisoned by drugs
that army marched over the daisies
crushed them like ice
with hammers

so the old man staggers
and waves a stick at the passing cloud
it was once his land but now it’s ours
as the march of his money is counted
that army devours the flowers

it was enough
the waves swallowing him
he holds the stick over his head
unharmed certain of death in her tender arms

the land belongs to the sea
and the sea
it belongs to thee

NZ Police have discovered a Terrorist cell
Come on! Like the cops couldn’t tell
It’s been happening for years
Why now? All of a sudden something smells
How organized is this Terrorist cell?
Are they going to make out lives a living hell?
Somebody in this cell let the secret go,
Led to discovery of this operating cell.
What kind of weaponry do they have?
Are they qualified to misbehave?
They are not any person’s slave,
Just people with a misguided way
New Zealand is not under threat,
The fact is too many people found out.

Were you young or old when you exploded?
Did you have an inkling – of your shape that unfolded?
I do know not –
You had company I see
as I twirl on this wind swept crevice
Other mounts that give us bearings
more than directions in our city
Meeting places for many of past
They understand your height, your depth –
in telling of your beauty
and the strength you hold in being.
A vantage point or a vacant niche –
Waiting for a predatory invasion.
What’s beneath your steep incline?
Layer upon layer …
Are we like you – whether young or old
We can implode –
explode – what are the triggers?
What do you teach us?
Lying here I listen but cannot grasp your enormity
But calmed and understanding inner strength.
Do we all lay dormant?
Waiting for that moment
when procrastination goes
and action is taken of our nature and woes.

Copyright Deana Platt 2002 (aka Emancipation Planz)

A night out

One evening we went for a movie
It turned out to be
The usual display of
Dumb trivialities
I was bored out of my wits
Sitting in the dark
Yawning and scratching myself
We’d had a beer before so
As the movie progressed
I became restless, shifting on my seat
Dying from the need to piss
I guess I didn’t pay much attention
To what was going on the screen
I nudged my wife and whispered
‘Let’s get the Hell out of here’
We filed out and hurried to the restroom
It felt like the evening’s greatest moment
After a movie
We went for a pizza
And had a few more beers. After that
We popped into quick store
Bought us a bottle
Then headed back home
We killed it while sitting in a living room then
An argument started
‘So you think you’re someone?’ my wife said
‘I bet you think you’re a genius.’
She was laughing like crazy as we
Continued to talk about the movie and my own writing
‘Yeah, you’re just great’ she said
‘You wrote
Your God damned novel
So now
You think you’re made. Admit it!’
And I said ‘Shit. I’m a genius. I wrote a great novel. It’s
352 pages long and it’s damn good one.’
‘You’d been fired from all your jobs,’ – she said ‘and I have been
Supporting you for years with all your writing and art.
Did you ever count how much you’ve spent on that alone?
YOU OWE ME THOUSANDS!’
We kept screaming and arguing till late then
Went to bed. I was writing some crazy chapter in my sleep then
I awoke. It was terrible
A pizza was turning in my gut burning my insides
It was four a.m.
I felt reluctant to get up
And go to the kitchen for a drink of water
I was afraid the floor would creak and moan under my feet
I was afraid to wake up my wife but
I couldn’t lie like that any longer
So I gathered my strength and got up
The damn floor was creaking and moaning under my feet as I
Crept toward the sink
I drank some water then went
To the living room, lit cigarette
And started thinking
About books, my life and all that
I felt like writing something but decided to
Go to bed instead, still musing
About death
Money
Fame
Bad pizza
Booze
I dozed off
In the morning
The whole street was
Buried under snow.

Copyright © Alexander Mikhaylov