A Birthday Suit
A birthday suit
like turtle shell,
like sandblasted reindeer on glass,
like snub silver,
of tallow, of damask, of alabaster,
alive with a bronzewear patina.
A birthday suit
in Gabonese ebony, in ormolu, in ivory,
of leather, of lacquer, of veneer,
like camphorwood, like crushed eggshell,
as rough as the Maharajah of Indore’s jodhpurs,
of gazelle-leaps and sunbursts,
in shantung, in shagreen, in rusted chrome.
A birthday suit
as a dustjacket, as a scourge,
as a scoop collecting the taste of the sea,
in rain, pitted and soft its grain,
like gardenia petals, like silk sheets,
with its mystery, earthy as a mineral,
with its history, stained like a criminal.
From Fast Talker (Auckland UP, 2006)
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