The Wallux and the Seapeter, with apologies to Lewis Carroll

The Wallux was whining in the sky,
Whining with all his might
He said he was the chosen one 
And, I quote, an "entitled" little blight
Which was not so odd because
He was a self-indulgent little shite

"Oh voters, won't you vote for us,
Our eyes are very blue."
"And we will hurt the people
Who aren't you," the Seapeter quickly cried
"And we have gifts," The Wallux added,
Just wait to see what is inside. 

Mother voter eyed them warily
But her kin were keen
Come on, they said, let's go and walk
After all, our Mum is mean
And so the voters strayed
with promises of green. 

The Sea was smiling sulkily
Smiling with all his might
While the Peter led the Wallux around
By the balls of blight
"Come and deal," the Wallux crowed
While the Peter shrugged and said, "Well, I think I might."

And soon the Wallux and the Seapeter
Had become a thing. So now all three heads
Were as wet as wet could be,
And racist as heck to boot
Their smiles as slick and smarmy
As an old jackbooted coot

"Do you suppose," the Wallux said,
His greed so plain to see
"If we should fire the workers
There'd be more money for me,"
"Oh yes," the Seapeter heads cried
"Then you can give the rest to me."

With fork and knife and serving spoon
They tucked into the feast
"I weep for me," the Wallux said:
"Please, deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he dumped
Public sector jobs of every size

"It's such a shame," the Wallux said,
"That we can't fire some more."
"True that," Seapeter agreed
"I'd love to settle every score."
The Wallux rubbed his hands
"Maybe next time,
"I think the voters are getting sore."

And with that, the Wallux heaved his paunchy gut
And took his own pay rise,
(with sighs as to its size)
And so I'm asking you, dear voter
Shall we let this monster have it's run?
Or shall we tell the entitled blights
Their days destroying NZ are done.

  A.J. Ponder with apologies to Lewis Carroll and the Walrus and the Carpenter

Hi, thanks for reading. 

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A.J.

Travelling through 70's Mainland NZ

in the middle of the

patchwork flat

peeling in the sun

a cottage tumbled

far from the snowy peaks

hazy in the dusty distance

rats along the rafters

visitors at the door

far from the wind

the water

the bustle of the big

city across

and away

with fangled ideas

calf, dark curled lashes, blinking

and down the road

the main road

not a café

just a road stop

where you could have everything

you liked

even vegetarian

so long as

you didn't mind a little bit of bacon

rats, you can have your dust

calf, stay if you wish to be et

we're headed for the mountains -

maybe they can tell me -
why we left the sea

A J Ponder

This is a poem I've been working on really does in some weird way seem to capture one of our many trips through the South Island when I was quite young.  It would have been either late seventies of very early eighties but accuracy at this point is not going to be easy, nor particularly relevant, and although my memory of most of our other trips is almost non-existent this one stood out because of  an unscheduled stop at a place where the guy really did have rats along the rafters.  He opined that they (the rats) were quite entertaining and the walkways should be a more prominent feature of the house design.   And not so very far away some kind of diner, the only eating establishment for miles around - where Mum asked if they had anything vegetarian and the lady pointed to some kind of cheese muffin thing - with bacon.  A small amount of discussion, utter horror on both sides.  (Mum grew up with pigs on a farm, she might be a little lax about her vegetarianism when going out - but not when it comes to pigs the images of them being slaughtered still haunt her.)  Unstated was that there wasn't a heck of a lot of choice, it was that or the road... I believe we found something to eat - in the car. 


More of Richard Ponder's work can be found here
It's not of the hut in question as the background is clearly not the middle of the plains with miles and miles of flat land.  Gosh even thinking about all that flat land just seems wrong as I'm so used to being nestled in the hills of Wellington.  


A.J. Ponder  

 A.J. Ponder's work is also available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores

A New Skirting

Green petticoats ruffle the shore

frothy laughter dancing to and fro

around a traffic cone perched jauntily

on a well-dressed rock

#

Across the bay a digger

tears old concrete apart

ready for the shiny metal corsets

to hide an old lady's unsightly shoreline.

Soon she'll be dressed in black,

the perfect evening wear

clinging to luscious curves

that will never breathe again.

A.J. Ponder

This is the dread poem I started working on two weeks ago.  And like any old lady, she's certainly had her whims and tantrums - not unlike the weather.   But she's a game old bird, and love her or loathe her, (or the new walkway around the bays to Eastbourne) the new version is a lot safer - at least for humans...

A.J. Ponder 

 A.J. Ponder's work is available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores

Robbin' Hood Meets the Land of Free Speech

Hood Robbers - Hood Robbin'

They took from the poor

And they gave to the rich

Sold everyone's rights

Then fed us a pitch

So now we eat slogans

With clay for our bed

And watch the sky glowing

far over our heads

Hood Robbers - Hood Robbin'

'cause money is power

And money is speech

But I've got no money

So-

Unfortunately American Politics has been rather big news this week.  And maybe I'd be almost as oblivious of it all if it wasn't for a certain program - (turns to camera) Damn You Colbert!  So what's new?  Politics, power and corruption are a world-wide phenomenon.  Of course, like NZ Americans have free speech and equal rights but it seems "some people are more equal than others".  Here Colbert explains how corporations' free speech is infringed, so I guess its lucky a certain decision went their way.

Here in little old NZ I don't think many people believe such a thing could never happen after all money and politics is relatively closely regulated, but we are buffeted by what is happening overseas.  And of course our system isn't perfect - which is why NZ, we need our own political comedy.  How else am I expected to have any idea about what is happening in the outside world?  After all the news is too depressing, and parliament is enough to induce catatonia. Besides, surely in this economic climate laughter is the best medicine :)

More poems can be found here at the rather awesome Tuesday Poem Blog. This week's poem is Wild Bees by John Griffin, but wait there's more, visit the side bar to the right to find the blogs of many wonderful NZ poets and authors.  Enjoy

A.J. Ponder's work is available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores

Boys, Please Dont Rock the Boat

  The boys are restless, 

Māui-tikitiki-o-Taranga

And his brothers

Treading lightly

Enough for atua but

Creating the tiniest crack --

A devastating splinter

For mere mortals.

And we watch in fear,

Those who infest the fish.

We watch and listen from afar -

"Kauaka tikoki e te waka"

Knowing your music is

 You                  Not ours.

                                                            are

      shocked.

             All are shaken,

                overwhelmed, relieved,

                 for, in this place we hold life is sacred.

         Families, friends, the cleanup crew,

           no one forgets the North waits

                                                             for Maui to

               carve

                               the fish

                                we

                                        pretend

                                               is

                                                        land

Alicia Ponder

I felt the earthquake was the province of people who had lived through it. That raw emotion belongs to you who lived through it and are still living through the aftershocks. Still something like this doesn't pass anyone in New Zealand by, we all know people who are affected, so this was my take, a little late. Hopefully there's some kind of balance with North and South -- apart but together. Also if anyone speaks Maori feel free to tell me if I've stepped wrong. I was using online dictionaries for hours to try to get the phrase "don't rock the boat". Which was a bit of an eye-opener, because I thought it would be dead easy. And it wasn't - a bit like the shape itself. :)

PS if you want to know about quakes in your corner of New Zealand - why not check out GeoNet? It can give you updates, either choose your region or check out the overview.

A..J. Ponder - Amazon author page