I’d started running in 2013 and in the summer of 2014 I started to run some longer distances and really enjoying it when this poem came through one morning.
Running, pounding, pavement, tread, footfalls beckon me ahead
The Earth is rising, meet my feet, as my rubberised soles now kiss the street
Patterned beat, each step apart, cyclic rhythm, matched by my heart
A cooling breeze, or stifling heat, my bodies where the elements meet
At times it’s like a perfect dream, at others demons rant and scream
Stinging nettle in my mind, it’s there the pain becomes defined
Is it real or fantasy, a wisp of smoke the golden key?
I welcome one and all along, to run with me and come upon
Discovery or repetition, the road to Mecca or perdition
To paths and trails our heavens pledge, to make this task a pilgrimage
That something better might become, or something worse will now be gone
A mind released or caged again, which one I only find out when
I set upon my morning mission, with energetic mire or fission
The experience once I have went, subdued, renewed, inspired or spent
In faith I plea ‘They Will Be Done’, a fire walk or light fun run
Sweated brow a runners high, tight chest, stiff calf and leaden thigh
Shoes of cement, sentence declared, will I die on this road or my life be spared
Post run stretch, now seal the deal, begin the process, start to heal
Return to time shared with the others, conceal these trips from my sisters and brothers
I’m one of you, my secrets kept, that I ran this morning while you slept
A sense of guilt, a touch of shame, indulging senseless body games
Does it free or does it shackle, path to freedom or spiritual high tackle?
Just distracting from the higher aim, might as well have played the video game
But it seems to clear my thoughts a bit, so I’ll keep it up until I trip
On something else that helps to meld, this mind and body, heart and soul
On the journey of a life, the ‘I’, the actor, me, the leading role
Rehearsal for a future when, we’ll all be running home again
Together side by side in flight, through the veil, to the endless night
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Kia ora!! I just found all your work - I'm so excited - I didn't know your poetry was here, katahi ko te puna kōrero ko tēnei, tēnā rawa atu! I shall be back to immerse myself in all these beautiful kupu. For now... meant to be doing the day job lol
I hope they resonate. I connected with Lisa Cherrington working together in the Whānau Ora space and she encouraged me into this space. Been good to share here. The day job being a community job means its a night job too so not always a lot of bandwidth for poetry but its important to keep creating. You may want to check out the Wahine Maori hearings at the Waitangi Tribunal esp Tina Ngata’s evidence. Its a powerful story, and I’m reminded profoundly that colonisers take out the storytellers and the poets early. No wonder creative writing seems hard some times … keep up the fight :-) we are revolutionaries!
Kia ora!! I just found all your work - I'm so excited - I didn't know your poetry was here, katahi ko te puna kōrero ko tēnei, tēnā rawa atu! I shall be back to immerse myself in all these beautiful kupu. For now... meant to be doing the day job lol
I hope they resonate. I connected with Lisa Cherrington working together in the Whānau Ora space and she encouraged me into this space. Been good to share here. The day job being a community job means its a night job too so not always a lot of bandwidth for poetry but its important to keep creating. You may want to check out the Wahine Maori hearings at the Waitangi Tribunal esp Tina Ngata’s evidence. Its a powerful story, and I’m reminded profoundly that colonisers take out the storytellers and the poets early. No wonder creative writing seems hard some times … keep up the fight :-) we are revolutionaries!