Sigh
07-23-2001, 03:41 AM
Crossing Cook Strait
on the Arahura ferry
two kids
one Maori the other Pakeha
singing "twinkle, twinkle little star"
Pakeha mother drags her child away
a pity
it was a nice song
I followed the Whanganui river
to Jerusalem
it wound
lazy
mud coloured
At Jerusalem I photographed the Catholic church
with it's stained glass windows
and Maori carvings
a Nun said I could go visit Baxters grave
but I would have to leave the camera behind
I asked her where the habit was
"Whatever that means " she said
I felt guilty about that for days
Nobody was home at the old house
just a pig and a dog
and they didn't seem to mind
I found the headstone on the second attempt
chaperoned by a cat
wishing I had brought the book of his poems
up from the van
I crouched quietly
on my first real pilgrimage
The next day
between National Park and Turangi
my van blew up
Mike the mechanic said it's stuffed
gutted
I still owe money on it
So now I'm in a Turangi Back-packers
trying to get hold of a wrecker called Sonny
thinking about catching a bus to Taupo
hiring a car
money's shagged
think I'll head for the bar
The three volcanoes
Tongariro
Ngauruhoe
and Ruapehu
brood
slightly menacing
over the plateau
Someone once told me
"everything happens for a reason"
"I had a crap today
what does that mean?"
"It means you're alive"
"in that case –
I think I'll go have another"
Next day
I met sonny the Maori angel in blue overalls
covered in oil
his face shone
he bought my van for three hundred and fifty bucks
towed me to his private graveyard
of dead cars
As I started hitching
thought I had a ride
but the woman with the blonde haired son
pulled into the path of a car
they collided at a hundred kilometers an hour
smashed cars
no-one hurt
I told her I knew
a Maori angel tow-truck driver
I got a ride to Taupo
with a man called Neville
he told me 'bout his get rich scheme
he said "follow your dream"
I said "I am"
"not much of a dream is it?"
"It'll do me mate"
that's the thing you know
it'll do me.
on the Arahura ferry
two kids
one Maori the other Pakeha
singing "twinkle, twinkle little star"
Pakeha mother drags her child away
a pity
it was a nice song
I followed the Whanganui river
to Jerusalem
it wound
lazy
mud coloured
At Jerusalem I photographed the Catholic church
with it's stained glass windows
and Maori carvings
a Nun said I could go visit Baxters grave
but I would have to leave the camera behind
I asked her where the habit was
"Whatever that means " she said
I felt guilty about that for days
Nobody was home at the old house
just a pig and a dog
and they didn't seem to mind
I found the headstone on the second attempt
chaperoned by a cat
wishing I had brought the book of his poems
up from the van
I crouched quietly
on my first real pilgrimage
The next day
between National Park and Turangi
my van blew up
Mike the mechanic said it's stuffed
gutted
I still owe money on it
So now I'm in a Turangi Back-packers
trying to get hold of a wrecker called Sonny
thinking about catching a bus to Taupo
hiring a car
money's shagged
think I'll head for the bar
The three volcanoes
Tongariro
Ngauruhoe
and Ruapehu
brood
slightly menacing
over the plateau
Someone once told me
"everything happens for a reason"
"I had a crap today
what does that mean?"
"It means you're alive"
"in that case –
I think I'll go have another"
Next day
I met sonny the Maori angel in blue overalls
covered in oil
his face shone
he bought my van for three hundred and fifty bucks
towed me to his private graveyard
of dead cars
As I started hitching
thought I had a ride
but the woman with the blonde haired son
pulled into the path of a car
they collided at a hundred kilometers an hour
smashed cars
no-one hurt
I told her I knew
a Maori angel tow-truck driver
I got a ride to Taupo
with a man called Neville
he told me 'bout his get rich scheme
he said "follow your dream"
I said "I am"
"not much of a dream is it?"
"It'll do me mate"
that's the thing you know
it'll do me.