The Red King
The King was drinking in Malwood Hall,
There came in a monk before them all:
He thrust by squire, he thrust by knight,
Stood over against the dais aright;
And, 'The word of the Lord, thou cruel Red King,
The word of the Lord to thee I bring.
A grimly sweven I dreamt yestreen;
I saw thee lie under the hollins green,
And through thine heart an arrow keen;
And out of thy body a smoke did rise,
Man And Dog
''Twill take some getting.' 'Sir, I think 'twill so.'
The old man stared up at the mistletoe
That hung too high in the poplar's crest for plunder
Of any climber, though not for kissing under:
Then he went on against the north-east wind--- Straight but lame, leaning on a staff new-skinned, Carrying a brolly, flag-basket, and old coat,---
Towards Alto, ten miles off. And he had not
Done less from Chilgrove where he pulled up docks. 'Twere best, if he had had 'a money-box',
To have waited there till the sheep cleared a field
A Philosopher In Christchurch.
(Karl Popper (1902-1994) .
Indeed it was you, Karl, who left Vienna
not a moment too soon, as it turned out,
bound for Christchurch to teach philosophy
and also, for terms, science in Dunedin.
You must have wondered at the Southern Alps.
Did they remind you of the Dinaric Alps
in Greece? You did a fine demolition job
on Plato's 'The Republic', a closed society.
The Four Queens (Maoriland)
Wellington.
HERE, where the surges of a world of sea
Break on our bastioned walls with league-long sweep,
Four fair young queens their lonely splendour keep,
Each in a city throned. The first is she
Whose face is arrogant with empery;
Her throne from out the wounded hill-side steep
Is rudely fashioned, and beneath her creep
The narrow streets; and, stretching broad and free,
Like a green-waving meadow, lies the bay,
Earthquakes And Tsunami
Some scientists had located a missing geological piece. Therefore,
They found a puzzle of plate tectonics in the Southwest Pacific Ocean.
East and West Antarctica had spread twenty-six million years before.
The rift between them opened one hundred miles due to this motion.
The scientists had clearly described how the Pacific tectonic plate,
The North American plate has moved at different points in time.
As one plate moves, the adjoining one is affected, and some adequate
Theories explain the plate movement and the changes of the clime.
New Zealand’s Great Alpine Fault
earth mobile surface divided into tectonic plates
Alpine fault cross hair connects two subduction margins
New Zealand continent sits on plate boundaries
where ocean floor descends into Earth's mantle
at this point surfaces of two plates making up
South Island alpine fault fatally pressure meets
Pacific Plate on easterly area of New Zealand
is moving westwards Australian Plate on opposing
New Zealand
An earthquake struck New Zealand's city of Christchurch on Tuesday
Burying vehicles under debris and collapsing buildings into the streets.
Police announced a curfew and the city was shut down on Wednesday,
Rescuers scrambled to reach beneath the rubble the residents.
The quake devastated the spire of the Cathedral and was a real tale.
The buildings had collapsed, and the people were trapped inside.
All around the city, this powerful earthquake strangely bent some rails,
Moreover, it toppled the tall buildings and seventy-five people died.
A Place To Call Home
We all have a town or a city or a place to call home
To some it is Paris or London or Rome
Or Moscow or Sydney, Dublin, Montreal or L A
To them remain home though from there they live far away
For us all there is a place where we first saw light of day
Though some did not remain there for to grow old and gray
They left for adventure and to live from home far away
And in their adopted home feel content to live and stay
Festival Haiku - Christchurch Cathedral Women Strawberry Festival
Christ church Cathedral Strawberry Festival
the Cathedral is red
on the cake
Christ Church Cathedral Strawberry Festival
the women's hands
red
Christ Church Cathedral Strawberry Festival
she serves strawberry tea
23feb Which Is Worst?
no sleep
as many
so many
aftashocks
and strong
6 areas in cbd
Christchurch
23feb Many Miracles Near Misses
many miracles
near misses
80% of city
has no water
water flooding
outside my place
stable thank God
ground shaking
23feb10 The Day After: Garden City
many hotels
damaged
shocked guests
evacuated?
Christchurch
mortally wounded
garden mourns
no rooms
23feb13 The Day After: I Too Suffer
I too feel
and suffer
for Christchurch
like the floods
in Australia
so much suffering
I pray hurt
I also know
Moral Individual Decisions
At Teacher’s College in Christchurch New Zealand years ago.
The tutor gave us teacher trainee students a moral lesson.
She said ‘If a student asks you a teacher this moral question.’
‘Is it wrong to steal? ’ You must answer the student thus.
‘There is no right or wrong each person decides by individual right.’
‘No right or wrong? ’ ‘Really? ’ ‘The laws are not written so.’
Stealing is a crime prison is conviction caught punishment.
Crime does not pay ultimately bursting packed prisons say.
Un Refus.
Jim, cela ne vous fera rien, n'est-ce pas,
si je ne viens pas a votre fete?
une mort c'est assez, je ne vous tuerai
encore une fois, en rituel,
n'etant qu'un autre poete
qui vous connaissait plus jeune et jamais mieux,
je ne saurai guere sous quel chapeau ou quelle couronne
a vous saluer maintenant-
des baies, ou des myrtes, ou des epines,
ou lequel d'entre eux decore mieux
Strange New Lands Confront With New Challenges
the statement is solid valid
English immigrant settlers
back in early colonial days
seemed to favour a common
type of construction architecture
people use what is accessible close
first in the days of horse and cart
in many places people settled
Beware Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement?
How do we know? John Key promotes
TPP sly Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
with hard sell dictatorship show on the road?
The dictatorship roadshow forced down our throats
"was not only protected by upwards of 30 police officers, but
also by 40 members of the New Zealand Defence Force."
Yes folks "The heavily guarded Trans-Pacific Partnership's
(TPP) travelling roadshow came to Christchurch last week."
A Few Places Found To Write Poems
who would have thought
in Westport New Zealand
a poet would be born
who would have thought
in rural isolated backwater
a then bustling now dying
coal town Westport New Zealand
In Westport New Zealand A Poet Is Born
who would have thought
in Westport New Zealand
a poet would be born
who would have thought
in rural isolated backwater
a then bustling now dying
coal town Westport New Zealand
Cursed Lonely Living To Long
the long night of an aged lonely life
must end eventually who can endure endless
night sorrow night after night alone
in an empty house all family decades gone
in the night years decades past sorrows plague
night thoughts throughout darkness sleepless
rest stealing residue this is all my remaining life