It was an absolutely amazing poetry group meeting

It was an absolutely amazing poetry group meeting
And in that amazement lie the seeds of hope

It was an astonishing poetry group
The first since you left for the sea
Leaving us wandering
Through the labyrinth of your disappearance

Yet, I soon left that riot of speculation
As did your daughter
Because you were gone
Yet, remained

In the mystery of poetry
Which binds and loosens our tiny community
In the encirclement of language
Which includes the stillness

Out of which words are born
Particularly primordial words

With whom you strike up camaraderie
As you deepen, and re-deepen
Your harmony

 With the Source
Of All

~
Written to my friend Natalie Browning, matriarch of the poetry group that meets Tuesday mornings in the Tākaka Library. The saying came the night after the poetry group met for the first time since Nat went missing. It’s likely 80-year-old Natalie went onto Pohara Beach and got in trouble with the incoming tide. The poetry group gathering was the most extraordinary small-group meeting I have ever attended.