Eels
 

Suddenly
          Ranginui snares a taniwha –
                    fragile as a leaf skeleton –
          lifts him from the Tasman,
                    hangs him high in the sky.
          Dark and writhing
as a net of eels,
          taniwha snarls.
                    A jet engine roars
          in the heavens.
Summer stops.
          Macrocarpas freeze.
                    The whirrs of cicadas,
          gongs and chimes
of tui miss their beat.
          The only sound,
                    a fly buzzing.
          Just as suddenly,
the taniwha vanishes.
          Thrashing, he appears
                    in an Awhitu lake,
          nestled in kuta and raupo,
an ebony snake,
          all teeth and maw.
                    I know him – he’s waiting
          for Ranginui to re-emerge,
                    feed him putangitangi chicks,
          conjure him
skywards again.

©Siobhan Harvey