THE WORD

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STRAIGHT AND TRUE

…found wandering among the kingdoms of the burning wilderness, there is refuge to be found in the line of the arrow flying straight and true…this is it, Crumb 2026. Hitting the high spots with some of the very best open mic action you will find in the country. The Dangerous Kitchen, the Mussel Inn and NgAng’s Gallery all have their doors open ready to host another season of music, spoken word, story-telling and poetry.

Not to mention the Golden Bay Summer Arts Festival taking to stage and studio from Wednesday 18 February to Sunday 22 February. And then there’s the Nelson Fringe Festival featuring a couple of local musicians and poets in Neal Bonner, Àine Barton, Leigh Strange and Mark Raffills. But wait, there’s more – if you fancy hoping over to Wellington to the NZ Fringe, you’ll find Golden Bay represented again.

All the details on the following pages of this edition of Crumb.

Don’t sit at home all alone – come on out and hear what the microphone has got to say….

Peace
Mark Raffills
Golden Bay Live Poets Society

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arrow

Where leads that other road,
The way now lost to me
I stand on the unbroken rock
Yet I am shaken to the core.

There is a howling that surrounds me,
Bones bleached and cracked by the wind,
Marrow sucked so dry and brittle
But for the trumpets single sound.

The tide turns its back on me,
Leaves me stranded on the shore,
Many are the oceans to cross,
The word is spoken, peace, be still

There is a table set before me
but I refuse to drink or eat,
I am drowning in the oil and the wine
Can’t even hear the prophets speak.

I wander among the kingdoms
Of the burning wilderness,
Stone me if I don’t kneel or bow
To the darkness of your abyss

This, the time of the arrow,
A finger writes across the wall,
Dares me to find that other road,
To walk the fine line, straight and true and tall

Mark Raffills

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