A Poem: Connect - arrival and departure

Posted: Tuesday Aug 20, 2024

We're excited that Kirstie will be appearing in our awesome National Poetry Day line-up on Friday

Connect 

Walking up from the surf

a long surf

intentionally numb

closed edge of pain

a one-eyed dog runs towards me

I hustle him back

close his gate

he cocks his one eye at me

puzzled. 

I grasp the surfboard trundler

to continue

but now a weasel

crosses the road

where the dog has just been. 

She’s slow

a dead bird in her mouth

drags her down

I think bad thoughts

about rodents and native birds

I pick up a rock. 

In a sunny stone wall

overflowed with salt flowers

she stashes her burden

no killed bird

her weasel baby

smoke grey coat and white chest

like hers, she hides it so

I don’t know if it’s

alive or dead. 

She turns to face me, I stop

green leaves and pink petals

nod above her head

I see tunnels

under tended plants

her ears fur-pricked attentive shells

legs firm muscled, feet gripped and sturdy

she watches me a long time

eyes abyss lit black and wide

I cannot read but I understand

the furrowed grey fur of her forehead

we are both mothers

then she jumps

and is gone. 

From the stone wall

because I am prone

to wishful thinking

I fancy I hear mewling. 

I put down the rock

return to the trolley of surfboards

the handle rust familiar to my palm

weight to shoulder, step

out of numb

I smell dirt. 

Across the road, diggers and pile drivers

in the former paddock

with great views.

~ poem by Kirstie McKinnon, first published in tākahe journal, no. 104, April 2022.

About this poem: A Poem: Connect - by Kirstie McKinnon (substack.com)