Live Encounters Aotearoa New Zealand Poets & Writers March 2026
Night Images, poem by Piers Davies.
Night Images
I
A phoenix arising
from its nest
of red and yellow balloons
sings with delight
its wispy call
echoes through
the hall of mirrors
2
ZIP line rushing down
reveals exotic rabbit holes
each an alternative world
seductive but unreal.
3
Acres of soft coral
shimmer on the seabed
their steroid limbs gilded
and translucent.
4
A whirlpool
of kaleidoscopic colours
spinning in a jet black sea.
5
A tree burns
in the verdant forest
flames surging upwards
consuming and being consumed
a beacon of light
in the darkness
subsiding to a charcoal crust.
6
The blue flamingo strutting
in the vermilion lake
croons its last song
to the gallery of grotesques.
© Piers Davies
Piers Davies was born in Sydney, Australia but has lived most of his life in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand and is a Law of the Sea specialist. He is a long-time writer and reciter of poetry. His poems have appeared in journals and anthologies in New Zealand, Australia, U.K, France, Switzerland, South Africa, Poland, U.S.A., and India. Four books/chapbooks have been published. He is involved in the administration of Titirangi Poets and is the co-editor of Titirangi Poets Ezines and anthologies. He was the scriptwriter of feature films (Homesdale and The Cars that Ate Paris (Australia) and Skin Deep (New Zealand) ), short films and documentaries. He was sometime Poet Laureate of Haringey, London.