TAIAROA HEAD SPEED LIMIT

Without warning -
which it does -
the albatross Toroa has launched
from the old pa Pukekura;

searching for good air,
it appears quietly above your head

from behind the lighthouse -
the feather-light bones, the heart, the keel -

everything's just locked in for a good flight;
it catches the uplift
& is gone -
a white cross
against the storm-black canvas of the sky
hightailing it for the border -

this incredible passage of swiftness

this arrow-straight flight of silence
over the waves

aimed at that point on the horizon
where the sky closes in
on the Pacific

& leaves it empty
as if the bird had never been.

ORIGIN UNKNOWN

(Object: Patu. Material: Greenstone. Found: Kaikoura Peninsula)

It would make a good story -
the frantic running
over the tidal flats
through seals, birds
& rain
into the canoes
wedged in the rocks

then the capsize
into the cold waters
the patu falling

the blood
& broken wristband
streaming behind -

the patu sliding down
the swirling wall of kelp
through the last shafts of light
& settling into the sand
& Tangaroa's grip

& later
a reflection
in a facemask

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