The Remembered Forest

I flew over the North Island in a jetplane
and noticed the clouds for once, how
they covered the land like a forest,
a huge forest billowing into the sky
with its fungi, insects, bacteria, spores,
cones, leaves, twigs, birds spilling up
like little mountains of life
and oh the streams of water
upwards and downwards
as I took a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Robert Sullivan

Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi Nui Tonu, Kāi Tahu Whānui) is the 14th Aotearoa New Zealand Poet Laureate. Among his sixteen books are the bestselling Star Waka, Weaving Earth and Sky and Hopurangi Songcatcher. He has won awards for his poetry, editing, and writing for children. His year 6 teacher at Onehunga Primary School, Mrs Naire, first inspired him to write poetry, which was a cloud poem. He lives in Ōamaru on ancestral whenua, the beautiful coasts of Te Tai o Āraiteuru.