death in pakuranga

out beyond the culvert where the black-backed gulls bicker / the off-white lemon curd & bad blue behinds of buildings / the remnants of graffiti on the unreplaced half of the fence / cabbage trees, flax, nasturtiums, fennel lining the waterway which is a ditch / undeafening drone of air conditioning unseen from front facades / the exhaust does not seem to trouble the heron who watches / or the windsurfing gulls awaiting sandwich crusts intended for ducks / where is the focal point in this landscape of shadows and light / of birds in flight / the red crest of the pukeko stalks & marks the quotidian / breaks the dramatic belief in monotony / the actors restored to their setting / the eye of the believer caught in the netting / the whole finds its notion in the whole.