blackmail press 26
Karen Zelas
New Zealand

index
from: Angipanis of the Abanimal People - Andy Leleisi'auo
Karen Zelas's poetry and short stories have been published in a variety of
magazines and anthologies and broadcast on radio. She is the editor of
'Crest to Crest, Impressions of Canterbury: prose & poetry' (Wily
Publications, 2009)  and is Fiction Editor of Takahe. Her first novel, 'Past
Perfect', will be published in March 2010.


A Train of Thought

Sometimes I have ideas
but lack the execution

Some are executed
     for their ideas

others
     for actions
     for inaction
     or being there
breathing
in the right place
at the wrong time

crack! crack!

a child is witness





Crabwise

the hermit crab approaches obstacles
sideways
circumnavigates
pilfered calciferous house on its back

at the pulse of danger
retreats inside

I like to think

I approach obstacles head-on
surmount them

deny I (sometimes)
withdraw crabwise
into my shell

(this much
we have in common) 


      



Reflections in Dusky Sound

expecting rain   the sun takes me
by surprise   spreads a gleaming path
of gold across the sound    too bright
like miners struck a seam  smelt
the ore   let it run a stream

mountains invert   white triangles of peak
long scars of rock   a tapestry of greens -
reflections more convincing at the skin
of sea and air    transform
as seen through ancient glass
fracture and disperse   re-form
as if we'd never been

we glide into the boat-sized space
Cook moored his ship and picked a spot
to check his clocks against the stars
Finn points out a nebula
explains how matter is
and whatever race or creed
we're all made of star  


    


Deafness in the Garden of the Blind

you are sighted yet do not see
not deaf, though you seem

unmoved by vibration 
of butterfly wings

through herbaceous borders
a flit of filamentous orange

fragile
I rub rosemary between my fingers

sage
you do not notice

in another land
conflict erupts  

a plane roars overhead

you're unperturbed