Title: Falls

Author: Gregory O'Brien

In: Sport 7: Winter 1991

Publication details: Fergus Barrowman, July 1991, Wellington

Part of: Sport

Keywords: Verse Literature

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Sport 7: Winter 1991

♣ Gregory O'Brien — Falls

page 51

Gregory O'Brien

Falls

for Marsden Hartley

Ending with storms
in the perfect costume
of an autumn

the sun made fast
by riderless waves—
a wedding among

sand dunes on a windy day
the dunes unfolding, moving
around the guests.

To while these afternoons
away alone, the boy
to follow

in your footprints
a while, or run ahead.
An American on the beach

won't walk with us
to the waterfall
('In the States we make

waterfalls, but can't
manage oceans').
This afternoon

a small country,how could
I miss you there?
To think of the weather

page 52

as always this fine
which might explain the
long lives of flowers

on the table, a vine
growing over the
Volkswagen, two roadside

signs, one announcing
JESUS WILL RETURN
the words added:

'to surf Raglan'
and another:
JESUS SAVES

'stamps'. To move
these half-truths to
truth, this man outside

shovelling in the ground
car parked among music-stands
a boy carrying a wooden

coffin containing
a trumpet. Between you
and I, everything

we know, a small country
of charms, virtues, how could
I miss you there?