"Nelson Ticket"
The number five tram
clanks along cashel tracks
no more. Milk truck cans
now grace museum spaces
instead of gurgling a foamy
chorus to waiting neighbours.
The child selling eggs outside
a Linwood gate garnering
ticket money for the Liberty
Cinema, now bumps his way east,
the past crumbling even faster
as quakes rip sanctuary apart.
Turns into his old street, salutes
the family bungalow still standing
that once housed youthful dreams,
then drives north, photo albums
on the passenger seat, rescued
from rubble, blank pages waiting.
—Barry Southam
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