Memories Magazine Publications

James MacKenzie  1855-1856        

Poem published in Memories Magazine Issue 76  Page

                                                                                            

Photo of James Mackenzie's dog Friday.  

Where sheep graze on sun stunted fodder 
and dewy flats lie 
a lone shepherd with a dog  
cast a thoughtful eye 
the stockman walked a rugged route 
above the tawny grass 
James MacKenzie herding sheep          
from north of Timaru                       
by Dunstan Ranges 
through Lindis Pass 
was the route he took them through

An overseer saw him 
and with two Maori tied him up 
as the strong eyed dog Friday 
ran like a frightened pup 
Then MacKenzie made his own escape 
below the mountain tops 
but one hundred miles north at Lyttelton 
was recaptured by the cops

He went to court a Scottish man 
accused of stealing sheep 
where he yawned or muttered Gaelic
while looking half asleep

Twice he escaped from capture 
but didn’t get away 
the public cried their sympathy 
and wanted to have their say 
five years hard labour 
was finally quashed 
and a Magistrate pardoned him

Engine Driver  Poem published in Memories Magazine  Issue  72 Page

A rough and ready derelict

stands with a bike  calliper braked,

at a railway crossing

as a KA936 J10 approaches

a mile a minute a mile a minute

over Manawatu plains

where a hawk dives over burnt grasses

and cats sit in draped windows,

while an old man lies dying

in an old railway cottage

pondering the Mangaweka viaduct

and dreaming of the Raurimu Spiral

with thoughts of ti whanake ( cabbage tree )

or straw hats in blackberry bushes

as a tocking clock ticks Brown’s dog

holds its own against the ravages

of a deep snooze

or barks on a chain with exploding teeth

in the guts of Aotearoa

where passengers drink from cups

thick as your lips,

eating old railway pies

with apparitions clear,

as a more-pork is heard

close to where the old man lies dying

in an old railway cottage

remembering the picture train

between Taumarunui and Ohakune

with thoughts of Tangiwai 1953

or a steam train belching black

to inviting skys,

the main trunk rising

1200 feet from Taihape to Waiouru

shepherds land,

the old man in the railway cottage

Knows the gobbling of oranges

at the Cascade Cup

or remembers the children with pig tails

catching a late train with lunch bags full

of unwelcomed homework,

they threw rocks on the rail track

And it was true and it was odd 
how James and dog would fade from view