Waterborne – by Timothy Neale

ISLAND | ONLINE ONLY

His father learned
to carry phrases

like light held
between two tenses

or maybe the
son intimated while

transfixed by the
water’s rising lip

so carefully he
told of wetness

which taps from
sea to confidence

towards the moon
only returning again

as rain so
yummy try one

tiny argosy he
chants so sweet

so sweet. ▼

Image: Senya Zhukavin - Unsplash


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Timothy Neale

Timothy Neale is a pakeha (non-Indigenous) writer from Aotearoa New Zealand. He works at Deakin University in Narrm Melbourne where he is an Associate Professor in Anthropology. He is the author of two academic books: Wild Articulations (University of Hawaii Press, 2017) and How to Control Fire on a Burning Continent (Duke University Press, 2026).

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