KIRSTEN MCDOUGALL 

 

Castlepoint Beach

 

From bed we watch the night
salt-land and water lit by a tin moon.
Waves break five hundred metres out
and the woman at the store tells us
she’s worried about tomorrow.

I’m not worried. Tsunamis,
back-ache, debt and regret,
even poetry, its bird-like skeleton
buried in weed. But love, well,

my love – your face in my eye
and all that. Five hundred metres
out, all our good morrows are
surfacing. It’s true. Never has
the world been more forgettable.

 

Listen to Kirsten McDougall read ‘Castlepoint Beach’

A Kaponomist Recalls

 

My line of collection and enquiry—
a glory of red pebbles
I moved from shoebox to shoebox.

I was looking for something new
when my wife left me,
she said ‘all I wanted
was a casual guy’.

It may have been worse.
I have heard of places where people
are shot for disagreeing.
Trust only birds and stones.

Ah, my red droplet.
When darkness grows
I warm you like a wife.

 

Listen to Kirsten McDougall read ‘A Kaponomist Recalls’

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kirsten McDougall attended the Iowa Workshop at the IIML earlier this year and has just completed her degree in History and English Lit at Victoria University. Castlepoint is one of her top five favourite holiday destinations.

 

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