Robert James Berry: Seamark

A symmetrical profile makes her
icon here

scoria cone silhouetted against every sunrise
violently born each day in a wash of blood.

Millennia ago lava caves cooled into tortured faces
and the basalt flowed like dark treacle.

Now heat bounces off black rock;
pohutukawa roots in the humus filled crevices

but on summit walk you'll find
ancient earthworks.

A landscape ruled by
screaming seabirds, looking over

Owairaka Maungakiekie Maungawhau
the wrathful volcanoes

we camp on
so far from extinct.