New Zealand Poetry Society Te Hunga Tito Ruri o Aotearoa
On the Walk to Separation Point
On the Walk to Separation Point
Crusty branches
Too decrepit for these trees
Lie splayed across the track
Ahead, a line of small hunched turtles
Children bent over, packs on backs
Their muted voices fragmenting
A tree has fallen in the bay
Milky water washing its dry limbs
We tramp forward
A drum roll of muddy boots
On a graveyard of skeleton leaves
I am thinking of things I do not have
My hand curved around a grainy old stick
On the walk to Separation Point.
First Runner-up (Primary/Intermediate)
Oliver Sircombe-Kohen
Mapua School
Tasman
