The Friday Poem: ‘Witchy Wellington’ by CK Stead
New verse from Auckland writer CK Stead.
Witchy Wellington
A summer southerly
sky grey
the sea a beat-up
and passing Grass Street
I thought ‘Intolerable Lauris’ –
not so much, or not just, the person
but the name,
the way those words seemed to belong together –
good company, great fun, wordy and witty
but when backs were to the wall and guns blazing
truth was a stranger.
I’d come down from Auckland
in a lassitude of reluctance
but now here it was again
that same old
pricking of the thumbs.
CK Stead, 2018
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CK Stead
CK Stead is a living legend of New Zealand letters as a poet, novelist, critic, and essayist. His most recent book is Necessary Angel, a novel set in France, and published in 2017. Karl was born in Auckland in 1932.
