SAINT CHURR

at this hour
the games begin
men stream off the road
wagons laden
towards motel doors

in my early days
as a teacher
i taught endurance,
a state unworn by hindrances —
not gentle rest, but self-contained
renewal.

a wholly integrated movement
in accordance with immutable
universal principles
providing nourishment
at least fairly regularly
to a prehensile sex

in a capital city
without capital

⁂

From from from
the dogs' jaws,
advertising agencies that market
my arrival to you,
neighbouring farms —
the silk-sweat mist
Hinepūkohurangi might even approve

of the jag-jawed kiss
your face a crescent moon
siding mine

slyways

while neighbourly Kōpū
sings us a song of embarrassed orbit
into our crystal hands for

she has known
other more offensive
celestial disloyalties.

⁂

It’s a stitch-up.
A dupe!
It’s a dupe!
You want me
in a death grip
at arm’s length.

Saint Churr,
watch over me,
this boy knows not what he does.