For John Pule by Karlo Mila

the poet told us

there was a beach
but a hurricane came
and swallowed it up



there was also a nation of people
but a New Zealand sponsored
hurricane
just as hungry
swept away people like grains of sand



with the help of
longremembered newfound family
he finds the old foundations
where hibiscus trees grow wild
with memories of his mother



using a new machete
he follows the old tracks
to a