blood test

will it show traces of
right and wrong how I am flying
with my golden ticket over spikes and bumps and joy

the sound of the bush tūī the fires raging
the wars waging Marley’s three blackbirds still singing
the blanket sky a wonder magnet

will it show wealth and poverty the thirsty earth
the dead children the dead grass the hazard buildings
rumbling guts and dreams of peace hurtling hurting missiles

or waking in the night to hold the light and hold back the tears
shining words on a world to be loved and cared for
the white blood cells low the iron carrying the load

will it show a train of thought in the midnight pitch
potholes in the tracks of our day the need to feed hearts
to speak together with tangata whenua to speak of manaakitanga

will it show I am dying or alive or the album I have on repeat
that wild southerly wind bending the bush or the garden lush
with tomatoes zucchini strawberries herbs or platelets steady

how it’s one small step after another the water tank summer full
home as sweet as pocket notebooks a sky chart of life stains
the dark and light patches of knowing unknowing seed sowing

will it show what people say and do the stabbing headlines
how we build bridges out of hope and flax and rivers and mother tongues
how we bake bread and make our beds and dip toes in water

will it show the doubt and the fragility and the homeless
a helterskelter hijacked world a woman humming with blues guitar
in the middle of a bombsite a kererū arcing over Waitākere sky

my hair turning symbolic grey at the need to be fierce and
face the corrupt and greedy the lullabies that soothe
the books that send us into zones of comfort and challenge

will it show traces of this poem a healthy liver a new recipe book my loved ones
how we make art and music and teach our children to care and mend
and how in the early morning light we can roar and hope and sing

Paula Green

Welcome to Poetry Shelf 2025. Over the summer months I am posting a series of summer readings, both audios and reviews. Later, I aim to post Aotearoa poetry news, interviews, Monday Poems, reviews, features, audios, thematic clusters, poems I have loved over time, books I have loved over time. I might review fiction and nonfiction published in Aotearoa, do the occasional art exhibition review. But I am also finishing a couple of manuscripts and will be devoting time to that.

Do send me poetry news to post and books published in Aotearoa to review. I can’t promise to review and post everything. But Poetry Shelf is born out of love and the imperative of connection.

Poetry. Storytelling. Art. Music. Film. We matter. Let’s dance!