Ode to the arsehole of the world
El Cullo del Mundo, Wellington
grasshoppers in the guacamole
here’s a toast to the Isle of Islay
that barman looks like Tom Waits
the barmaid from Bolivia
as tiny and as shining as
a pimpernel is dancing with
the bearded cocktail maker six foot six
and growing
while the manageress
rifles through the till to find her kazoo
so she can hum that tune that says
it’s true
from this day forth and for ever more
in Robert Hunter’s dancing words
truckin’ truckin’ truckin’ on
shake those cocktail-shaker maracas
when you’ve nothing left to say then say it
anyway
here on the broad back of beloved mother
earth
every premonition tells us that the end is near
sisters brothers comrades all
lift up a cup
to this collocation of the strange and free
this haven’s very name
proclaims its sanctity
and don’t forget to kiss it too
Murray Edmond is known variously for his work as a poet, playwright and fiction writer, and as an editor, critic and dramaturge. His poetry collections Letters And Paragraphs, Fool Moon, Shaggy Magpie Songs were finalists in the New Zealand book awards for poetry. His most recent book Back Before You Know, published by Compound Press, was a finalist in 2020.
