DEAD WOOD
Bored
on the road to Whangarei
we counted logging trucks
mostly empty
with trailers crouched
hump-backed
behind.
Some with lethal logs
held down
by fragile chains
to be avoided
on the switchback
corners.
I wonder
if there are any trees left
in the Kaipara.
*
Christchurch born and bred, but now a resident of the Kaipara, Maureen started writing rather late in life, and writes mainly poetry and children’s picture books. She has a Diploma in Creative Writing from Whitireia and was short-listed for this year’s Joy Cowley Award. Maureen travelled extensively throughout New Zealand with her husband during his years in the Air Force. She’ll always be a South Islander at heart, but is not sure if she could tolerate those cold winters now. She has two children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild, and feels at home in the far north.
Frankfurt Bookfair 2012: An Aotearoa Affair 
I can really relate to this. Daphne and I were sitting in a cafe in Maungatapere and there were logging trucks every couple of minutes. Noisy, and often scary to be near.
We actually counted 18 that day!
I relate to it too. We are right to find logging trucks scary, they have so many accidents. Not all are their fault, but many are. A couple even hit each other the other day. In the 1970s logs from the Tinopai forest were carted to Marsden Point via the Paparoa-Oakleigh Road, which had a fairly narrow strip of seal in those days. Those drivers were very considerate and somehow always managed to meet cars in a safe passing place. Logging truck drivers were professionals then, but not any more.
Thanks Maureen, I enjoyed your poem, and particularly your crouched hump-backed trailers.