the bush
wasn’t filled with dragons,
knights, princesses
or giants.
matter-of-factly empty
& nothing else.
a creek
with big dark eels,
but no taniwha I remember
(or ones I could write about
now).
just gorse
moving up the hill,
puriri trees, rotting leaves,
a graveyard, at least
far enough away
so that to get there
was an adventure.
Published in Takahe 73, Winter 2011.
Read by Sam Hunt on Kiwi FM, 11 September 2009.
