SAM DUCKOR-JONES
Regeneration
when I was a child
I played by myself in a
corner of the schoolyard (F.O.)
The animals weren’t friendly but I insisted
& they became cordial & if anybody asked I’d tell them from
my place in the eucalypt or oak that I was a conservationist
The proof being my solitude & solitude’s soiled knee Soiled
for purity of intention & a gold star for dedication Dedication
being measurable by the years & the years that follow & the desire
to look up & see more than a mean sun or blue
To look up & see proof of the epiphytic canopy I believed in
Now here I am the centre of all bucolia making a sorry buck
where the catch cry is pittosporum
When did trees get so boring? This is my pose I hardly visit
anymore I pose like it’s someone else’s painting
of just so much windburned cheek
I got lost I guess bad age
I know too many policy analysts & too few self-employed anarchists
or anyone with a free afternoon I’d like to fall in love
with a man who knows the names of trees some Bruce or Dave or
Hemi who says
ngaio will hurt your liver &
rangiora is bad for horses
rewarewa started popping up about ten years ago Diane said
what the hell is this when one grew & blocked the view
The neighbour chopped it down
They were having an affair
kahikatea butter box
torn stocking trunk of kowhai
tawai battered remains
When I was a child
hills were hot with gorse I hid in pine forests saved a blackbird
Now the view through the windshield is as close as I get
But it’s heartening
in this wretched valley to see the new dank walls rising up like a
beautiful threat & I’m kissing a man
who knows the names of birds so that’s a start
LISTEN to ‘Regeneration’ by Sam Duckor-Jones

Photo by Ebony Lamb
Sam Duckor-Jones was born in Wellington and now lives in the Wairarapa. In 2017 he completed an MA in Creative Writing at the IIML, for which he won the Biggs Family Prize in Poetry. His first collection People from the Pit Stand Up was published by Victoria University Press in 2018.
Links
Victoria University Press author page
Sam’s website