Friday, August 14, 2009

Another Poem


I'm having a bit of a rethink about the direction of this blog. I'm toying with the idea of leaving Blogger for greener shores, and broadening out the scope of my posts. If I do so then I'll be making a commitment to post more often and more widely. I'll finally get around to creating that blog roll and I'll be posting on a variety of topics. If I decide to make the switch I'll start posting more commentary and more links to other sites. There'll still be the training posts most of you read this blog for at the moment. However there will also be a return to more regular poetry posts. If I get my act together I'll be posting on the issues that are important to me, and I'll be posting on daily life and happenings here in Wellington.


In the meantime, here's another (still very draft) poem! This was inspired a few weeks back by a news article stating that the current government is looking at loosening up the rules around overseas investment in New Zealand.


That Which Was Ours


They came across the border
when our eyes were averted,
too busy looking inwards
to notice the attack from outside.

They took us on the beaches
first of all, our defences weak,
their firepower stronger.

While we were still dusting the
sand from our arms and gathering
together the possessions we had
clutched to ourselves as we
scrambled to retreat they
turned on our utilities.

Before we knew it our
water and our power
were no longer our own,
left begging at the
doors of strangers to
cook our last suppers,
scraping together cash
to pay for enough light
to see as we tucked our
children into their beds.

But it will all be ok, they
crooned to us, as we lined up
to fill buckets so we could
heat water for our weekly baths.
You see, things are more efficient
this way. Your dollars
are still your own.

So we sat on cliff tops
looking down at the waves below
us while we sipped on Pepsi and
Bud, unable to afford to drink
what used to flow freely from
our taps. We kept bees for
the wax and felled trees from
the local reserve
for firewood.

That which was what ours
was not truly quantified
until it was listed on the
asset sheets of those that
came.

5 comments:

Kate said...

Sounds like a good plan! I'll visit :)

Crafty Green Poet said...

Sobering poem, history repeats itself though the context may change...

Bridal Shower Cake said...

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Unknown said...

Wow Pip, I didn't realise you were such a good poet. Fantastic stuff. I don’t usually enjoy poetry but I really liked your poem, it was well written.

Hey - have you considered having a few different blogs on the go? This is what I used to do... have one for travel and another for other things. I totally recommend wordpress, its free, easy to use and has loads of functionlaity. They also let you have several blogs and its easy to administer them from the same 'control panel'.

Pip said...

You found my blog! From my Facebook profile I assume. And yes, whether or not to set up a few different blogs is a debate I constantly have with myself, but then I'm not really posting much at the moment! H wants me to try Squarespace, but then that's not free!