Poetry

New Zealand Writer
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
    • Katherine Mansfield in Picton
    • Poetry
  • Contact
  • Links
    • Katherine Mansfield Walk
  • Blog

Poetry By Julie Kennedy

​Ngakuta Bay

You know that bend in the road
the one where you think
you’ve gone too far
when you think perhaps you’ve missed it,
and maybe you should turn back,
when your passengers turn pale
complain of a headache
and you see in their eyes
a longing for home.

Then here it is suddenly,
the long straight past the store
before the beach, our destination,
walk along the foreshore, through the ford 
dry at this time of the year,
remember the bridge that used to be there,
admire a branch of sun-dried tortured willow.

On the sand’s ridge at low tide
seagulls scold your progress,
herons fly low, legs skimming the surface,
you poke at cockles and crabholes,
seagrass marooned in a tidal channel;
yachts on moorings face the same way --
wind from the north east.

Turn and walk back the way you came,
sense the earth and your place in it,
feel your frailties released by a peace
that burrows beneath your feet,
if you stay longer you will see
the way the beach redeems itself
with each new tide.

© Julie Kennedy, 2004

Wild Music

 1770 (January)
You woke at anchor in Ship Cove and heard    
tui and korimako singing in chorus
each echoing the other, old as time,
Joseph Banks, a wealthy companion,
helped fund Cook’s Pacific exploration,
he described ‘most melodious wild music’.

1822 (June)
Years later Russians visited the Sound            
astronomer, Ivan Simonov noted
‘impenetrable forests filled with birds
whose song delighted’ and Bellingshausen
reported the sound was like: ‘the beauty
of a piano accompanied by flutes’.
​
2013 (March)
With Kaipupu Sanctuary on our doorstep
a fence in place, and pests eradicated
natives regenerate in shades of green
we too may wake to hear that same wild sound
vision of a seaside community
a mosaic of voices joined in harmony.

© Julie Kennedy, March 2013
Picture

Read the World

Katherine Mansfield would
have loved the web
she could have sat
as her health deteriorated
& read the world at a glance,
contributed to chat rooms,
corrected spelling
added editorial comment,
conversed more immediately
with Middleton Murry
her horizons expanded
beyond those rooms
where she spent
in troubled pain
her invalid days.

© Julie Kennedy, 2004

​Picton Perspective

Where is the curved horizon
telling us we are travellers in space
only the surrounding hills
native bush on the margins
settlers were glad of these
reminded of lochs and glens
the Chinese say
our encompassing shapes
lend security to our dreams
but
stand on the beach at Rarangi
gaze far out and see
a ship
like a duck
in a shooting gallery
disappear
                        over the edge.

© Julie Kennedy

Shadows

You rode on horseback to meet the boat
the captain handed you a letter
‘dead’, your husband had died in England,
dead four months and you did not know
shouldn’t you have sensed it,
he handed you back your letter
unopened, loving thoughts not received.

You rode to meet him in awful weather
you rode back to Ngakuta at a time
when the colours were fading
and shadows were on everything,
including your soul, at least the rain
disguised the tears that flowed
you hope your husband is unaware
he is no longer here, did his death
come in whispers, did he know?

You wrote to your brother in Australia
licking the stamp was like a farewell
post marked Picton, 1894,
you told him about the farm and six children
you did not know what you were going to do,
later you moved back to Pokororo
near Motueka, a place you thought of as home.
​

© Julie Kennedy, May 2013
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
    • Katherine Mansfield in Picton
    • Poetry
  • Contact
  • Links
    • Katherine Mansfield Walk
  • Blog