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Sport 41: 2013
Medb Charleton — I Ask Myself What I Like About New Zealand Poems
page 118
Medb Charleton
I Ask Myself What I Like About New Zealand Poems
They evolved in relative isolation.
They look a lot like paintings.
They protested against the 1981 Springbok tour.
They have an unheard-of quality.
They go down well with Craggy Range.
They are well-regarded in certain peripheral circles.
Their day-to-day philosophies are lighter than spinifex blowing
down strand.
Sometimes they are woken by a quake 100km away.
Sometimes they stay up late looking at the stars.
They travel overseas and are often misunderstood.
They chatter like birds high in a karaka tree.
They are islands strung with fruit and the flotsam of continents.
They are free as and waiting for a sign that the long clear day, the
long white cloud, the shining bright land is home.