Gregory's New Zealand Poem

water is all around me

turquoise blue

glacier water

“rock flour”

kiwifruit

round, brown and fuzzy

sweet green inside

melts in my mouth

lush green forests

cabbage trees

nikau palms and

tree ferns

birds singing all around me

fantails, bellbirds and tuis

cheeky wekas

invade the campsite

thousands of birds swarm me

as I bring stale bread

to their botanical garden pond

penguins hopping on the rocks

little blues and yellow-eyes

coming from the ocean blue

at dusk

going to their sandy burrows

up on the hill

fur seal pups

jumping and diving in the rock pools

waddling up onto the rocks

sunning themselves

they look at me

with their big, brown, puppy-dog eyes

wondering…

what is this guy doing?

albatross

big, flying gynormous birds

swooping and diving

over my head

coming back to cliff nests

to feed their chicks

I dive through the huge waves

with my supersonic Island Style boogie board

the waves crash on my head

I suck salt water through my nose

I catch a great curling wave

and ride it back

to a golden sandy beach

sand blows into my eyes

I build sand castles

that never survive

the crushing waves of New Zealand