We’re sad to lose our Red Dot Tree -
home to families of fantails and a tumult of tui
home-base for a million games of chase
a billion hugs
a gazillion dappled daydreams.
We thought it would outlive us
carrying our marks and stories so future kids
could imagine us cruising the sky
on a low branch
while the dog barked underneath
but our tree was dangerous
and had to be cut down. Now we carry it
with us, how it felt and smelt and sounded
grainy bark, tender spring leaves
seed pods crunching beneath our feet,
now tall tales sprout like fungi
from a cut stump: of teacher-shocking possums
Mrs Farquhar’s secret chainsaw
and a dinosaur
who arrived in a time-machine.
Wairakei Primary’s RDT lives on
in stories and memories, while in the playground
there’s a new home-base for games of chase
billions of bugs, gazillions of games -
behold, the Red Dot Stump!
By Gillian Roach
Reid
Rikihana
Riley
Sam
Vaanya
Willow
Zoey
Aiden
Alyssa
Avery
Donte
Finn
Grayson
Henry
Ihaia
Isobel
Jack
Jacob
Jake
Katie
Mason
Maui
Mila
Molly
Mrs Farqhuar
