New Zealand Poetry
Late Valentine
I don’t sleep with you anymore, and this makes the rain come in the open window and wet the tired curtains. The bed keeps growing and growing. I don’t hear you calling me for the six o’clock news, and this … Continue reading
Hills, Hills
Audio of Hills, Hills you yellowgreen hills roll seductively in the early morning light you appear in folds of earthflesh and undulate in the early afternoon like buttocks in olivedrab army pants fatigued at sundown I want to wander through … Continue reading
Avalanche
Janis Freegard – Avalanche She was made of rock, had a massive stride, a stone ship lurching into dock, lumbering down the mountainside. She had a massive stride: showers of pebbles flew up as she went, lumbering down the mountainside … Continue reading
Tuatara 3: Concepts I Have Shagged
Took Imperialism home for a shag And what a long night of tangled sheets that turned out to be: Nothing approaching the making of love But a whole lot of gratuitous kinky That left us both exhausted in the morning. … Continue reading
We Three
Frankie McMillan – we three and almost there, the long gravel road, headlights sweeping the paddocks and he slows and says this is not working out and I say, sweetheart we are almost home but we both know it’s not … Continue reading
Hitching Alone for the First Time
Maria McMillan – Hitching alone for the first time I took a bus to the outskirts of the town I grew up in. It was so flat. The Southern Alps blared at me like a car radio. It was drizzling … Continue reading
Alchemy
Emma Neale – Alchemy The toys aren’t doing what they should, his brother won’t use the voice he wants, the window is in the cold clear way of the world, he wants a helicopter now, but all we can say … Continue reading
Slow Codes
There is a hand asleep under a heavy hip bone. There is memory of love, a pip and soft bruises. I’m not sure how we fit but it seems this dead hand is my hand, this angular body is your … Continue reading
Mooloos
The ape standing staunch Guarding the tinnie house door Is losing its shape Bob skanks at 24 The waft of marijuana Snakes out of 22 Towards the Nanny Planting her kamokamo By the lavender Scarved youth pass by Swaggering with … Continue reading
National Anxiety
The party is loud and seems to go on forever – shoes stomp to the beat along gummy hardwood floors. Late in the night, when bodies finally hang like deflated Lilos over couches, you, in someone else’s room where the … Continue reading