Sport 41: 2013
Tony Beyer — Hard Yards
Tony Beyer
Hard Yards
1
bones rinsed in the vast
abrasive
washing-machine sea
houses afloat
coast to coast
earthquake flood fire insurrection
you know how serious it is
by who the news sends to cover it
2
WINZ begins
its ready-to-work seminars
with three searching questions
(the obvious other one
about a job
is never asked)
do you have a driver’s licence
do you have a partner
would you pass a drug test today
page 183
understandably
more than 50% of those present
answer no to the third
3
in my sleep I speak
te reo fluently
and engage in a lengthy
rebarbative debate with Parekura Horomia
amicable of course on both sides
perhaps now the most pakeha of poets
is dreaming
dreams in another language
we are closer to a genuinely
bicultural Aotearoa