Books: The Friday Poem – Long Range Forecast, by CK Stead
Poetry for the soul
Long Range Forecast
(for Paula Green at 60)
September and still winter
but the purple irises are out
under the vine
and suddenly every branch and twig
of the plum is pricked with blossom.
This is an oath sworn by the season
hand on heart.
It’s in the sky too between showers.
The days are longer
and the wet green lawn is sprinkled
with a white hail of daisies.
Today looking down from the blue bridge
that crosses to Tamaki Drive
I saw three dogfish in a kind of formation
coming in with the tide.
The sun lay over the sea
out past Devonport, far out into the Gulf.
‘Soon,’ it said, ‘soon’
and I knew it could be trusted.
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.
