Topography, Radicalised

"...woman bent over the map of her childhood..."

-larry levis

by myfanway williams

an artefact this topographic childhood map

tearing at the folding lines harried opening and closing

embossed coffee mug stains beige ellipses where

borders realign

there the Mariana trench with your deep-water shame

like The Troubles we don’t go there in polite company

you learned reverence from the fern fronds

soft teeth extending as ceiling & all the mid-veined

leaves as delicate walls

this biography of elevation & depression

this is all the prosecutors need know

you were radicalised by the Pacific Ocean yawning

towards Aotearoa & beyond that the Americas

what radicalised you

the casuarina shoreline the teal escarpment

from which you learned to leap

what radicalised you: the sulphur skies orange mist

that collapsed the stars radius of childhood tumours

what radicalised you: this ecstatic sun

the shoals beyond the shallows the beauty

the beauty.