picking and bubbling

After the picking came the bubbling.
Photo: Blackberry jam in the making, home, New Zealand

stunned, stunning

We are being stunned 
with day after summery day. 
Photo: Near Mt Holdsworth, New Zealand

prop

We had pastis just after midday.
Aniseed a beauty. The clouds and ice too.
But then our heads went swimming 
and we went looking for something 
to prop us up for the rest of the day.
Photo: Supports for a theatre, Hong Kong

welcome

It's Monday. Welcome
to the week.
Photo: Napier, New Zealand

appreciation

We have been having bread appreciation meals. Homemade loaves with seeds, olives, nuts, herbs. 
This round beauty was created by people from Xinjiang. 
And the other day, I saw some biscuits made with flour, water and salt and baked up to four times to get rid of any moisture that might lead to mold on a long voyage by ship. It is called hard tack.
Photo: Bread for sale, near Suzhou, China

stories and sisters

This is the sister I used to tell stories to - 
she on the bottom bunk, I on the top.
Nowadays, I prefer listening 
to her stories.  
Photo: elin presenting her work, Hiroshima, Japan

what would you put inside?

The whiteness at the base
are bright moments of love:
flowers, now dried, 
from a wedding day. 
Photo: At the home of S and D, London

waves

So dry and hot that
when I sit by the open door,
heat comes in, waving.
Photo: A nursery, Carterton, New Zealand

um-

Umbrella.
In the southern United States, 
people might stress the first syllable
of the word.
Maori might do the same.
Photo: Umbrella, Hong Kong

sometimes...

Sometimes burning 
can be wishing.
Photo: A small incinerator, Hong Kong

horse

We now have a horse
living beside us.
He is beautiful.
Photo: Paper horse, Hong Kong

angel

This sign appeared one day like an angel.
Photo: In Tai Hang, Hong Kong

I love touching towels

For a while, I would choose 
a household towel everywhere I traveled. 
A thing to touch upon my return. 
This one stayed.
Photo: Towel, Brisbane

not rich, not poor

I remember a girl in China saying that she didn't want to be rich or poor. 
I agree.
Photo: Detail of table in a mansion, Hong Kong

I will be your friend

I have had wonderful times on long 
distance buses.
A girl beside me once called the passing fields a grass swimming pool.
Another passenger has been a friend 
for thirty years.
One person gave me a small piece 
of cardboard with the handwritten 
words, "I will be your friend. Neutron."
Photo: Napier, New Zealand

sea eye

Today sea
after weeks of land.
Photo: Deck chairs, New Zealand

almost

A task almost done. 
Almost alleluia.
Photo: Hong Kong tree

ready for

This bed was ready 
for a teenager.
Photo: Napier bach, New Zealand

one year, two

Welcome to the new year.
Photo: Windows in Napier, New Zealand

ready for red

It's almost the new year, according 
to the moon. Be ready for lots of red.
Photo: Traffic cones, Hong Kong

black cat

This morning, our silkiest cat did not call at the window for us to prepare breakfast, did not eat the food when we put it out, and did not cry for milk during the day. I think she ate a body her size in the middle of the night. Maybe rabbit.
Photo: Cat in my study, New Zealand

four feet

The person on the left might
be more confident of the two. 
Feet firm, laced in loud pink.
The toes at the right, 
in beige and pale blue, 
seem to tip, tentatively.
Photo: Teenagers, Mongkok, Hong Kong

100

One hundred. 
As in the legs of a centipede. 
Today, a friend told us a story 
of a cockroach trying to enter 
his nose. It has to be the worst 
insect story I have ever heard. 
I give him 100 points.
Photo: Painted on a street, New Zealand

spent

It's one of those days when I can't 
remember what I'm meant 
to be doing, why I come into a room, 
and I have misplaced an urgent item.
Photo: Luggage cart, airport parking lot, New Zealand

monday morning

Monday morning.
The workweek ahead.
Photo: Hay and shirt, Carterton, New Zealand

fair is fair

Maybe I believe in fairness 
more than self-help.
Photo: Napier, New Zealand

being with water

Today I brought two children to a river.
One had never been there before. The other had never opened her eyes 
underwater. And I,
I floated and wrote 
a poem.
Photo: C and M, Napier

pause

Today I stopped everything for a while.
Photo: Queen's Road, Hong Kong