My brother’s been living beneath the bones of Whataitai
a skeleton brought up by a fault line.
He watches rugby at The Realm.

In the morning we take the ferry to Matiu/Somes
and walk along the ridges
never once spotting tuatara.

Mokopuna Island remains in shadow
cast by its own caves.

Kakariki fly over the gun emplacement
where we sit and eat sandwiches
among the scattered remains of a seagull.



© Saradha Koirala, from Wit of the staircase (Steele Roberts, 2009)