SHELTER BELT
Native or exotic?
Hey, you calling me exotic?
Crossed the Rakaia,
heading down to Ash-vegas,
drifting past Nifty Gifts, Home World,
Waterloo Wreckers, the Top Hat Café,
the usual spring stock-losses.
I stayed a day and a night in Austria.
I wasn’t impressed.
Ah, the hauteur of the may tree,
hokey pokey, sweet serein,
a cockatoo hanging upside down
over the front entrance to The Warehouse.
Want to get into security?
Get a gun licence.
Your car clicking when you turn it on?
Do yourself a favour
and become a Christian.
Do your self a favour
and learn how to spell.
From Settler Dreaming, Wellington: Victoria UP, 2001
© Bernadette Hall
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