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Made For Weather
‘Poems of place, with an array of striking images, evoking wind-whipped coastlines and the passing of seasons, and illustrating the poet’s gift for capturing people.’
‘made for weather’ (title poem)
Airy, lofty, leggy
eucalyptus,
has architecture
more modern
than classic. In the wind
it dances, shakes
out a fragrant, bouffant
hairdo. Like a house built
for harbour views
with glass and white,
plain space, it has designer-gaps
to see the sky through.
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Whereas when hard-pressed
to ride the wind, the pine
slugs it out.
Stocky, hairy,
a dark and close beast
of burden
made for bad weather
with branches
shaped like arms prepared
to carry. Stuck for shelter,
I’d head for the pine.
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Feeding the Dogs
‘With a childhood in rural Southland behind her, Kay McKenzie Cooke blends town and country themes effortlessly. Her poetry expresses a strong relationship with the landscape and a southern sensibility, but she is equally at home writing about lawn bowlers in Queenstown, a family reunion, global warming, or the land.’
‘feeding the dogs’ (title poem)
Follow
the torch’s twitch
picking out dead thistles,
wooden railings.
Where the ground shines,
bare, snarled
by the roots
of trees, the dogs bark,
rattle chains that drag
over old bones.
Throw them the meat,
pale traces of fat clinging
to the wool of your gloves.
Hear the crush of bones,
the night closing in
the cry of two birds
flying out over rocks.
See ticking stars
in a blind sky.
Softer than light,
darkness leans in
- so close, so cold,
its breath is all
you can breathe.
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