Early Class

In 1978 in the old Onehunga Primary school hall
we met with a group of teachers and parents
to show off the new technology—a Casio calculator
which I demonstrated with a classmate,
and encouraged them all to use.
Our school principal, teachers, and my friend,
their faces now blurred on a platform
as my time train speeds by, just petals
pounded in the wetness of memory;
I remember the room full of pride
and my blossoming blood when
a parent said I could be a teacher.

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 about a boy observing an alligator. He lives in Ōamaru on ancestral whenua, the beautiful coasts of Te Tai o Āraiteuru.

The Poet Laureate Postcards is a new and ongoing series where Robert, our current Poet Laureate sends a postcard, whether poem or prose, from his travels or from home, from experience, memory or imagination.