Translating the cactus, Five poems I didn't write & 12 New Zealand Snapshots
by Cath Vidler
[ poetry - october 06 ]
Translating the cactus
Rain in September.
Checking if the cactus became wet. Checking still.
Rain in September.
Examination, whether the Kaktus kept wet. Examine again.
Rain in September.
The inspection if the cactus obtained has been wet. Again inspects.
Rain during September.
Proveryayushch if cactus obtained moist. To check again.
Rain in September.
Controlling if the cactus it obtained bathed. Control still.
Rain in September.
Control if ka'ktos it took humid. Check again.
Rain in September.
Verifying if the cactus obtained dunked. Verification again.
Rain in September.
Verifying if the cacti to start wet. To verify another time.
September rain.
You verify whether you obtained the inspection where the cactus gets
wet for the second time.
Inside September rain.
The cactus got and the milk it inspected. Again the prosecuting attorney.
Rain in September.
Checking if the cactus got wet. Checking again.
Five poems I didn't write
1. This is the poem I didn't write about a group of nuns waiting for
fish and chips. Coalescing, drifting apart, coalescing again. Petals
of a sea-anemone. The shop was an aquarium of heat.
2. This is the poem I didn't write about childbirth. 1. Broken waters.
2. Howling tree. 3. Keillands forceps (the wandering method).
3. This is the poem I didn't write about fifteen non-grammatical uses
of the word "if".
4. This is the poem I didn't write about a corporate gift basket: Golf
balls. Mixed nuts. My best friend bursting out of a mini.
5. This is the poem I didn't write about photo booths. A series of
likenesses is located beside the phones. Will only say "photo". Your
complete privacy is cut short by the curtains.
12 New Zealand Snapshots
1. A spent river makes minor calculations: curve, distance.
2. Cows eat fast air from the edge of a ravine.
3. Bamboozled tussocks hold their blades erect.
4. Cabbage trees dream of the dinosaurs.
5. The sky is scuffed with cloud.
6. The cloud is scuffed with light.
7. White Rock, a man from outer space.
8. Leaves whipped into seizures of rumour.
9. The land, a swept jigsaw of horizontals, verticals.
10. Roots clamp onto the dirt like frightened spiders.
11. A milky sea, flavoured with sky.
12. Emerging birds, stitches in the clouds.
