31

Next month brings
several happenings.
Photo: At the driveway 
to I's childhood home, Wellington 

infinite

This 'eight' 
has infinite 
grace
Photo: A house number, London
For a friend with good news today

countdown

A few hours after I took this photograph,
a new member of the household arrived.
The next day, our neighbo(u)rs returned.
Photo: Outside 'Countdown' supermarket, Masterton

2500 + 2013

Standing for over four thousand years.
Photo: Dolmen, 2500 BC, Ireland

see 22 July post

Here we are.
Photo: My first family, Germany

always hello

At around noon, I spoke 
with my family, in another country,
where it was yesterday. 
They had just finished dinner.
Hello, always hello, 
my loved ones.
Photo: Mussels one lunchtime, Ireland

one land, one sea

One land, another. 
One sea.
These hills and streams 
in Ireland remind me of the hills 
here in New Zealand.
Photo: Connemara, Ireland

the warmth of wood

I love the warmth of old wood, and the lines of older designs. This chair I still have, and the legs of the table, but the table top lifted up and blew off in a typhoon, landing on a night street, unpeopled.
Photo: My furniture, found in a village in Hong Kong,
installed at my exhibition for 'delicate access' 2004

this is

I have forgotten 
where and what 
this is and I don't mind.
Photo: unknown

family

About twenty people in my family
once stood in front of these doors.
And nearby, a stork nest.
Photo: At a monastery, Germany

space

We all need space, 
as do the tops of trees.
Photo: Kahikatea trees, Wairarapa, New Zealand

sea

Today the sea.
Photo: South China from the air

mountains today

From our window,
The Tararuas. Snowy.
Photo: Taken with my phone
in Wairarapa, New Zealand

tell me a story

I would like to read 'Under The Tree'
by Elizabeth Madox Roberts again. 
Summers ago, we placed gifts here
under this one for the children. 
They called it the fairy tree.
Photo: Tree in Germany

this window

Yeats and I and thousands
of others have looked 
through this window
Photo: Ballylee, Ireland

a glove a friend

A friend of mine has a series
of images of these gloves
and I give this one to her.
It reminds me. I have a single
glove to return to another friend.
Photo: Tai Hang, Hong Kong,
A glove for P, and one soon for G

gees linctus

I have a cough.
Photo: Our bathroom,
New Zealand

knots in rain

Photo: Trees in Greytown, 
New Zealand

summer, winter

This photograph was taken,
on a warm summer's day,
unlike the winter hours here
in the southern hemisphere.
Photo: Laundry in Tarragona, Spain
Book cover featuring
my photograph. The back cover
features a long white dress.

trying

Maybe the clouds are trying
to write a Chinese character.
Photo: Wairarapa sky

the executive says

I saw this sign at a hospital.
Across the street, a liquormart.
Photo: Laminated sign, New Zealand

rain tap

'One leaf, one
moment.'
I think of that short poem
as rain taps each leaf.
Photo: Me at a book exhibition,
at the Fringe Club, Hong Kong,
by mccm creations
Text: The poem in the upper right
is from my book, 'Delicate Access' 
with translations by Luo Hui

whilst, first

Janet Frame wrote a whole novel
after hearing 'whilst' spoken aloud 
for the first time.
Photo: Wairarapa sky
Text: The Adaptable Man

off

The internet didn't work all day 
on a day I really needed it.
Sounds like a Monday.
Photo: Wairarapa roof, New Zealand

all

We are all one.
Photo: Somewhere in New Zealand

amused

The other day, 
I was at a museum
and am now editing 
a book about a muse.
Photo: At Te Papa, New Zealand

new and born

Today we saw two newborn lambs,
two rams, so small and white,
and standing by their mother,
just like this foal. 
Side by side.
Photo: At a neighbo(u)r's stable, New Zealand

cuppa

Tomorrow we'll have a cuppa.
Photo: H's and B's home, New Zealand

counting

Ordinarily I like counting, and my writing
often has this exactness, but when driving,
the eye does not regularly regard the little 
lines and numbers on the odometer. 
Still, I have no speeding tickets.
Photo: Carterton road, New Zealand

Hello

Hello, I have said.
I like how his ears
move towards
the sound.
Photo: Our horse, New Zealand

just finished

Just finished a big task,
would love a long bath.
Photo: Trough, Wairarapa, New Zealand