HOW TO LAY CABLE IN SOFT GROUND
First, accept the grey.
Not as absence but as medium—
the way watercolour accepts water,
the way a Tuesday accepts eleven errands
without complaint.
Dig the trench shallow.
Copper finds its own depth
the way a root system finds water,
the way a toddler's block tower
finds the exact centre of a hallway.
Do not separate the domestic from the professional.
They are the same cable.
They carry the same light.
When the technician leaves,
test the connection:
send one message outward
and wait for the ripple to return.
If it returns changed,
the foundation is good.
If it returns unchanged,
dig deeper.
Store this under: winter, Tuesday,
Kāpiti, infrastructure,
the particular satisfaction
of a list with everything crossed off
except the last item,
which you are saving
for when the children are asleep.