The Anxious Quarts
1. With no streetlight on the corner of my conscience,
I have no soul.
& Should the words that I conjure fail.
Then I have no blood,
For in an atrium, flooded with voices that ask. WHY?
I am confined inward, to the underwater chamber,
I am childless.
I am denied of Whakapapa, Feijoas, lamenting & salt,
& Only the animals that whisper.
Are shapeless like me.
2. The parking meters that line the caverns inside.tick
Like a hundred cicadas in a letterbox.
So WHAT? Is love,
Should my song not convey colour or fingers,
Arched like the nubs of branches,
I am wound within a wind,
Whistle & water.
I am not.
3. A bend in the road draped in shadow,
Is in need of sunlight,
For the headlights that pass, provide no food,
Just a means. & no depth.
No nuance to a tongue that speaks after 31 years.
Mute.
But puckered up since the womb,
WHEN? The backbones.
Chalk dust as I breath,
4. The asphalt covers the earth,
Thus no sun shall impregnate her,
& Standing a great crowd upon her forehead.digging their toes into the furrows of her flesh.
Now, I shall climb down.
& Pray wholeheartedly
WHO? Is God in the audience,
Trampled, deft & dank.
Like a stack of sour apples.
One sweet.
Sugimura
'The painting in the restaurant'
The artist painted his eyes dark 'n' sad, & even the light seeping out from the back of the chairs couldn't change that.
for there was no sun.
Her kimono was hiked up & her chin was perpendicular to the clouds.
Her hands were clasped over his back & her eyes slammed shut under lock & key.
withheld a temple.
With each thrust the chiyonmage in his hair undulated like black waves, & her feet around him were curled up tight like two solid knots of wood.
.Yes, it was an embrace, but it wasn't love.
For the lover was vagrant.
& the artist I imagine.
is now sitting alone in room looking for a window.
<sum> Notes - 'chiyonmage' - topknot
The Ancestor
He.
rose from the sea.
drowned his eyes in sunlight.
& wept,
He.
Curled his toes around the barnacles,
& Like a patu held a loft, he cocked his knees.
& climbed,
He.
filled his mouth with bread,
shaped the teko teko from his own thigh,
& prayed,
He.
rolled over the tongue of the river mouth.
buried himself into the mud bank.
& slept. for a twelve hundred years.
He opened his chest.
& from his hands grew kelp, kina & paua's
He.
was woven into walls,
carved into the belly of a tree.
& up held.
for they built a whare into his back.
& bound the beams to his shoulder blades. for eternity.
Koro to Mokopuna
(Grandfather to Grandson)
"Upon my knee, I feel like
I'm cradling a cherry blossom.child
.In the palm of my hand,"
(He turns his thoughts inside)
"Oh son."
"Deep in this valley, beyond the roads & electricity twists a river.
& Embedded in her muddy banks are Tohunga & great eels that bear photographs, diaries, carvings & moko's"
"I have travelled light through the contours of my flesh,
With Tui's at my back that sing when I've felt lost."
(Sigh)
"Here are my birds.child (holding out his hand),
Their songs, my eyes, feet and stomach.
& here take my shoes, too"
(removing his shoes)
"They are your's now,"
"In return.
All that I ask is that you find
& Cupped hands you drink from the stream."
The Virgin & The tree
Teacher.
I've black ink on my hands.
With stars, the Virgin Mary & a bucket,
I've scuffed my feet down the pews towards the altar,
Paved with half eaten leaves that lie on their backs & look up at me.
The park lights are wrapped in cicadas or great moths humming like a monk whose voice is yet break.
Teacher!
The Virgin Mary in my hands won't stop talking & the paint is peeling from her face!
Should I hold her out further in front of me?
I'm inching forward, toe before toe,
& The branches have erupted into psalms,
Caked in Catholicism & staccato.
Is that right?
Teacher!!
For Christ's sake listen!
The Virgin has swollen & the alabaster is turning red,
In my arms she's telling me her son was carpenter,
But dreamt of being a saint.
The park has dissolved & the lights are glowing lumps of lava,
My back is arching & the Virgin is resting on my right shoulder,
I'm trying to sing, but she keeps covering my mouth.
Why is that?
Teacher.
I've fallen to my knees cause the weight has grown too great,
She's grown into the size of an elephant & with each word her toenails dig deeper into my shoulder blade.
Teacher.
(Under the breath)
I'll crawl the last few feet,
For I feel I've earned humility & the Virgin is starting to weep,
Father.
I've reached the altar & she's climbed up, clinging to the temples on either side of my head,
The bark on the altar looked rough, but resting my forehead against it,
It's finer than silk.
Mother.
I've joined a river.
& The branches are massaging the knots from my shoulders,
Brothers & Sisters.
The leaves are resurrected & a dog has repent.
For the Virgin is finally sleeping.
Arohanui
Ben Kemp
