Haumia ( corrected version)
Haumia
where fantails
had saltimbiqued
the day before
above a nameless creek
a spade was left standing
in the bush today
an orange and black shovel
trademarked ” Atlas”
planks lay
across the streams to it
without boot-treads
in the mud
no digging or planting
where it had lodged
with one clean cut
meanwhile
a downdraught of ferns
blew about
in the gully beside
left was
the spade’s advent
the spade itself planted
and kept
Te Awamutu
3 July 2015
Haumia is the Maori gods of ferns, and uncultivated plants, and edible fern-roots.