Summer

 

I have eyes for the cake

rising slowly in the oven.

The sweet smell of vanilla

escaping, but there is talk

about the pond teeming

with Goldfish. Go see the fish.

Every visit goes like this.

 

Now my mother joins my

aunt, looking back and forth

to her sister and the gaggle

of us, her head nodding toward

the kitchen door that leads out

to the lush garden and pond.

 

On the steps I hear the kettle

whistling over my aunt laughing

as the two relax, swapping secrets

of forbidden love. Our ears deaf to

their native tongue.

 

Outside amongst the hedges we

reach between branches of Camellias

searching for treasure. The winner –

the first to hold up a fist with a cicada

singing for release.

 

The clouds move at great pace

animals drift in and out of view.

In the distance the wind carries

the sound of intermittent sobbing.

I cock my head to the left and

hear only the cicadas singing

freely on the wind.

 

Kim Meredith

 

 

Kim Meredith was raised in Glen Innes, Auckland; her works have appeared in journals and collections. She has collaborated with artists in New Zealand and overseas. A multi-media artist she is part of Auckland duo Marvellous with Kingsley Melhuish performing poetry and music, their compositions narrate urban sketches of New Zealand life. She is a businesswoman and also teaches at a Music Tertiary School.