Poem 107

Coming round the East Coast I stopped in Ōpōtiki to see the bloodstained prayer book and chalice in the church … then walked down the main street where there was an overpowering sense of menace, the town a Mob stronghold … it was a Friday, the bottle store had been broken into overnight and was patched up with cardboard, they had stock out on the footpath at sale prices, seemingly trying to get rid of it all before nightfall …

Ōpōtiki

This is where Kereopa ate the missionary's eyes
and drank his blood from the church chalice

they hanged him for that
then cut him down
and gave him a job
overseas
eating eyes in Italy Africa
and places east

now he's back
it was his hand that smashed the front
of the wine shop last night
his mirror shades glittering across the street
in the broiling lunch hour