Tag: Monica Taylor Poetry Prize

The Butcher of Whack-a-White

Mondays at the slaughter is hardgraft, blunt rhythmic steel on bone.Sheep hang their heads; muted nowas final sounds washed from stone by bucket-slosh and scrubbing brushsend offal into the stream. Flaxline the banks, keeping the ritoclean and safe. The butcher, tongue-trussed like poultry, ties wordstogether, saliva pools on sounds unknown, skips and drowns with the splutter, the…

Kawekawe kōrero

Kawekawe kōrero Ko tā te ngutu he whakahua kauMā ngā tini kawekawe ia te toro atu,Rongo ai, whakaaro ai       Toro mai rā e ngā kāwai       Kawea mai te kupu       Tāmoea nei au i āu kōrero       Whātero mai i ōu arero tini,       — Ko ēnā iaia mōnehu         Kare tīwheta mai ki au,           Kōwirihia raunatia ai         Me…