Ron Riddell – Cante Hondo in Titirangi

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Live Encounters Aotearoa New Zealand Poets & Writers April 2023

Cante Hondo in Titirangi, poems by Ron Riddell

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Cante Hondo in Titirangi

I am not the same
I forget my name
when I hear the ruru’s call

his cante hondo
of bluest glimmering
moonlight shimmering:

something is touched
awake in me
sense of immortality

an evocation
of the nameless deep
that sings the dark sea song

no missing note
no missing beat
in perfect balance, thrall

the song of bustling tui
let nothing else ensue.

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Delight in a Time of Pandemic

I delight in walking out
in the ruins of the light

in the sparkling air
the world that burns

that yearns in its turning
for respite, recourse

that yearns in its singing
hallowing, honouring

that seeks to halo those
who come in its name

who in it come to delight
despite the might of pall

despite the plague upon us
despite the mark of blight

of pandemic reign and
though we know its game

what can we do should
eyes be bound, lips shut tight

but delight, delight, in walking out
in the ruins of the night?

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© Ron Riddell

Ron Riddell is a New Zealand writer with a deep commitment to ecology, on all possible levels: natural, social-temporal, philosophic and spiritual. Recent books are: Dance of Blue Dragonflies (poetry) and Pachamama & the Jaguar Man (novel). Previous work has been translated into a dozen languages. Book One of his long poem The Wanderer was launched in New Zealand in 2020 by HeadworX Publishers of Wellington. Married to Saray Torres from Colombia, he has two sons Roland and Pablo, and three granddaughters Tuvia, Felicia and Ella, who all live in Sweden. His latest collection of short poems is Exilstationer/Stations of Exile, a bi-lingual English-Swedish edition, was published in May 2020 by Simon Editor, Jonkoping, Sweden. Book Two of his long poem The Wanderer was published in November 2022. He believes and works in the spirit of the transformative power of poetry and all creative human expression.