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
