the Buller River
talking talking talking.
She’s lucid as a bird call --
She’s opaque as a bird call --
Down the river she
hunts the greenstone
hunts the greenstone
she lost all those years
ago -- its pale green
horizons the dreams
she can’t remember.
He gave it
horizons the dreams
she can’t remember.
He gave it
she wore it
she lost it
like that. Adrift on the river,
the sun slapping her back.
Now her sleeves are pushed
to the elbow, her hands
bitter cold. The children
used to help
but they’re long since
gone. There’s only
her now, green water
and enough light for catching
by.
she lost it
like that. Adrift on the river,
the sun slapping her back.
Now her sleeves are pushed
to the elbow, her hands
bitter cold. The children
used to help
but they’re long since
gone. There’s only
her now, green water
and enough light for catching
by.
The kahurangi, oh --
The kahurangi, oh --
The river, she says,
see
it's sheltering stones.
it's sheltering stones.
Mary McCallum
Kahurangi is a highly prized translucent greenstone or pounamu. In my experience, pounamu pendants are attracted to river water, they often end up back where they started, which is in part the trigger for this poem. Only in part.
Do check out the Tuesday Poem hub - I am editor this week and I've chosen a film of US poet Deborah Garrison reading four poems about New York linked to 9/11.
Kahurangi is a highly prized translucent greenstone or pounamu. In my experience, pounamu pendants are attracted to river water, they often end up back where they started, which is in part the trigger for this poem. Only in part.
Do check out the Tuesday Poem hub - I am editor this week and I've chosen a film of US poet Deborah Garrison reading four poems about New York linked to 9/11.
4 comments:
Nice, Mary.
Interesting Mary - it reads like a song!
Nice poem. Just wondering, do you mean "it's" sheltering stones as in "it is"...or do you mean "its"...?
Thanks Simon, Kathleen and Anon. I did mean 'it is' but 'its' is interesting... got me thinking...
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