Rangitoto College Reunion

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                           I
Hearken back to the old rule nazis how
  Deputy Fuhrer Hart led assembly -
with his bell, megaphone and monobrow
  it was more like a Hitler Youth Rally!
And Commandant Lomas, old Purple Haze,
  the Grand Inquisitor in my school days
                          II
The bells of Rangitoto ring once more
  for all you inmates of its cellblock walls,
when we did our time and prison greys wore
  and in rows sat its desks and filled its halls.
Across the room of aged fraternal clones
  are raw epic tales of raging hormones
                          III
To meet again my accidental peers
  who bare the soul to fleeting youth salvage,
who, post the rage of corduroys and flares,
  covet the old glories that time ravage.
Well hey! Before this night’s out I’m thinking
 “prep the bowl…it’s time for a bogwashing”
                          IV
Yet forgotten names in a guestbook scrolled
  alas are not spared life’s mortal complaints,
and for every life story that was told
  I cheered for the lepers and not the saints.
Some met with a smile and some I pass by -
  a “class of” roll call of past alumni
                           V
With long memories in brief accordance
  I longed for uniformed delinquency,
when bating those of foolish importance 
  eclipsed the pursuit of knowledge in me.
For each scoundrel, vamp, truant, and jackass
  to you I filled and gladly raised my glass
                           VI
My magnetic petty crimes returned forth
  when fingers did in my direction point,
yet my compass follows its own true north
  and I stepped outside to smoke a fat joint!
But still in the spin of webs and true lies
  with old friend and crush I did fraternise
                           VII
In her spell on the tangled vine I sought
  its forbidden fruit and bittersweet wine -
I learnt that which truly cannot be taught
  has a beckoning smile and lips devine.
And in flaming arrows that pierced my heart
  burned a boy’s desire a long age apart
                           VIII
O’ fleeting kiss that does a lifetime keep
  and broken hearts conned by expectations,
the salutary lessons that cut so deep
  quickly learning of our limitations.
What was once the spirit of innocence 
  was just youthful cognitive dissonance 
                             IX
The roll call of thirteen years continues
  and ends where the Lord of the Flies began.
Who among you would that time again choose
  and who stands before me a better man?
But like any group hug the more I drank
  the more it seemed a sentimental wank
                             X
I care not for any pseudo bullsh-it
  nor a schooled pretender’s futile disguise.
And so with all I have, my charm and wit,
  I leave you all to your own wild surmise.
Not one of you roused me to greater heights
  but for the P.E. girls in their gym tights!


            Written: November 1990


Note: pic is of my 6th Form class 1977.
         That’s me middle of middle row.

         Dedicated to Steve and Bruce who
         attended with me at the Mon Desir
         Hotel in Auckland NZ in 1990.

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