Tuesday Poem: "For Chrissie Weeping for the Sea" by Andrew M. Bell

As yesterday, Monday 22 February 2020, was the 10th Anniversary of the Christchurch Earthquake, I thought it would be appropriate to share this poem I wrote for a good friend who was mourning the fact that our oceans were filled with sewage for 10 months after the earthquake.

You’re the one,

the nexus, the crux, the one at the centre

keeping all us flakes from

flaking off into a life more ordinary

and yet,

here you are, bursting into spontaneous tears,

the creep up behind you emotions,

the lump rising mid-word

and it’s not much to ask:

here, the poor people have a patch of the sea

not generally a city feature.

We walk our dogs, we surf our dreams and we contemplate.

We know the value of a dollar and the value of

turning your back on one.

And we’re a funny, fucked-up family

and our sea is our friend,

our plaything,

our solace and we’ll drive

one and a half hours

on special occasions

just to change our view of our sea

but we’ll always come back to our strip

of our sea

and we’ll stand and weep with our friend, Chrissie,

for the day they filled our sea with shit.

by Andrew M. Bell

POET'S NOTE: The poet wishes to acknowledge the editors of Landfall in whose Issue 230 this poem was first published.

Photograph Credit: Joe Hayes

For more information about the poet, Andrew M. Bell, see:

https://ambell4.wixsite.com/andrew-m-bell-author