Table for one

I try to speak from the heart
but I haven’t talked to anyone
about the devotion it takes to kneel
and kiss the earth like a hungry pigeon.

I am hungry too and the birds covet my crumbs.
There are chirpers clinging to the trees
and feathers falling like leaves. Will angels
feast upon my prayers?

I am a creature too and my claws clasp
a cup of coffee. Any moment now,
I could be blessed. Many roads lead to heaven
but I crown myself with cappuccinos.

I feel like a pigeon in the corrugated heights
of the city. I feel like a pigeon crucified
on the spikes above a café door.

My cup rises and falls. It spills
across the table and those that kiss
the earth shall be blessed.

Any moment now,
I could be blessed.

Any
moment
now,

I could be blessed.

——————————

This poem is in my as yet unpublished poetry book, Wild Altar. I am currently searching for a publisher for it, do you have any suggestions where my work could find a home?

Wild Altar is a book of New Zealand poetry. It contains poems about art, love, meditation and magic. There are poems about sleeping in carparks, getting lost in forests and sailing between islands. There are hard moments when I pry under the rug, where we New Zealander’s love to sweep our darkness. All encircles the landscape of Aotearoa. All illumes what it is like to live here.