Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Christ Church after the Quake #





So I asked my wife,
If it was yr turn today
to write a poem, what
would you write about?
And she replied, thought
fully: It would have to be
something about the Phoenix
rising out of the ashes ...
You see, we're in
Christ Church, New Zealand,
wrecked by a major quake
5 years ago, with a reminder
quake just two days ago.
The old Melbourne tram
that took us for a city tour
kept on its tracks, and
the driver hit us with
On yr left ... and On yr right ...
until our necks were sore.
Our eyes were sore too, with
so much supressed sadness
as the cathedral yawned out
from its gaping holes, and
various government buildings
like the art gallery and museum
were partly reconstructed - but
in  five years they're still
dithering over many sites,
the powers-that-be are turning
out to be not so powerful.
In one side of town, merchants
have made a new shopping
and eatery city called ReSTART -
a vividly colourful community
of buildings and open cabins
made out of shipping containers
come to land to help
the shook-up citizens
of beautiful old Christ Church.
Necessity again is the Mother
of this injured town.

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