Vigil

How soft the centre of the island is

Like the knife will always come out sticky

With uncooked batter and the clingy green icing

Of the grass

Why is it spread so thick here

Over the lurid triangular tombs?

The car in front of me hits a road cone

And I wish that bright alert orange would flip back

From the road calling for more caution

But nothing is set and we sponge around

Every power line I see on the way is erect

From missing Jesus and the wires hold no one

Together except the sound,

someone is singing

But of course I can't hear her and it smells like the volcano

I leave behind

There is a lake in the middle of the island, in the middle of the cake

But I take the wrong route like a dog without a nose

Somewhere a timer is going off and

I will never understand why Ohakune cares

So much for carrots when out in space

The real war is happening, this is what my cousin

Tells me and I'm so grateful to her

And the way my family keeps arriving in waves

Maybe this vast lake I am skirting is just a puddle

Or a coin in the map of my hand

Where ever I am the fish are swimming so much further than my fingers

I want to ask them to take my last scraps of grace to the sea

When I was small cake meant everything to me

But I lost my tooth for it and now the sight of it is too much

The sight of everything is too much

My friend, I know nothing has a truth smell

And the world's onion is pretending to be a stone