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Tia Ysolde

Turbulence

 

The Beaufort Scale

is the scale of the windforce               low

 

on ebb and flow, the sail is the monarch’s wings

which sings, on a flower – the ‘Early Cheer’

that is here, on the coast, on a southerly, sunny

honeyed day

 

The Beaufort Scale

is the scale of the windforce               mild

 

the child nails a plank on an outdoor vice

twice, he hammers the flighty piece, an elongated

painted wood, with coloured flecks, flying specks

scattering wide

 

The Beaufort Scale

is the scale of the windforce               moderate

 

‘Clobber it!’ They call to a boy with a bat, and a ball on a breezy

beach, he sends it sleek, on an arc over sand sand-whipped skeins, gliding

over silica slivers, salt salt-crusted rivulets, to a sea

glistening

 

The Beaufort Scale

is the scale of the windforce               strong

 

throngs of surfers are kites skimming on waves, sinking

dreadlocks drinking, the resonant rush and booming swells

blustery, gusty white horses

spike

 

The Beaufort Scale

is the scale of the windforce               gale

 

kale chips fly, across an alfresco cafe table, a soaring

skater passes by, a woman waiting, stopped, with her watch, to catch a

match in cupped calm, on a balm of divergence, her eyes a

 

stormy gamut.

 



 
 
Tia Ysolde (Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe, Kāi Tahu) is a mother and Whitireia student from the South Island. Tia is an emerging writer and is currently writing her first novel. Favourite foods: Millefoglie, blueberry dark chocolate, eggs Benedict, peaches. Least favourite: lychees.

 

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