Walk a mile

New Lynn's Brickworks

Earthy red and brown tones
staining calloused fingers,
a match to regional clay.
Bricks for new houses, new businesses,
in a new country,
shipped down river
until rail arrives.

A peaceful occupation,
surrounded by chirping
and twittering fantail and tui.
Only 100 souls
living nearby.
Men with muscles and beards,
not poets or bards,
but men who build legacies
from mud.


Free verse. Written 7 January 2016.