What do you
seek?
asks Waipū
Cove.
What's not in this
beach-outing snap –
rock pools
a plastic ship
wind in our hair.
What brought
you here?
asks Martins Bay.
The picnics we had
on your shore –
races in sacks
egg-and-spoon
three legs made from four.
What do you
recall?
asks
Mangawhai.
A badjelly sand dune
that ate kids alive –
the pipis we dug at low tide
a Tilley lamp, Primus
and tent.
Why do you
still dig?
they
all inquire.
To find what I lost
when I had –
a
mother and father,
a bucket
and spade.
This poem forms part of my next collection, No One Home (Mākaro Press), a boyhood memoir in poems and letters.
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