Swan

—

Oval, Under

The river follows the moon.

A shepherd hooks the neck of the swan

only to study its curve.

Push, Pearl

Her cygnets in the flood lights.

The line discovers temperature

and the hand persuades the stone.

Black, Forward

The glass lake spills

Suspended across the whenua

rewa, delta, rewa.

—

[Poem commissioned by Nat Peri, for her Swan Earrings]