‘I baked this for you.’ He presents me with a square metal tin, on its lid a photograph of a golden retriever. A friend of a friend, he is tall with dark hair and a goatee. We are in the kitchen of his flat near the University, our mutual connection in the next room with…
2:00 – I track the moon, waxed to a yellow half. Wide tonight, impossibly large, she oranges clouds like a candle to smoke. This, I think, is how I imagined frankincense and myrrh as a child; (noun) a nebulous something, seen through spider thin fabric and warm dream-lights. I am braless under my hoodie and…
Briar no longer had the answers for everything, just as she had no idea what had driven her husband away. Maybe it had been the night sweats. That was when Francis moved to the spare room. To give you some space; you know I’ve got work in the morning.’ And she hadn’t had to work…
Mum pulls the knotted loop off its hook and locks her eye in with the wheel at the top of the pulley. Passes chord through her hands—one over the other—and lowers the drying rack. The laundry comes down with the majesty of a show girl and I stand small beside the large, wooden table beneath.…
My name is Bambi. It’s a nice name, isn’t it? Maybe you are picturing that I am an adorable, svelte white girl with a pretty hair colour and rosy cheeks and startlingly memorable methods of seduction. Well, I’m not. I’m ethnically Filipino, but I don’t want to get into it because I have too many…
It wasn’t blue, as Delia had been told it would be. Nor were there cacti, at least none that she could make out by the disappointingly golden light of the full moon, which was framed in the black window against which she, in the back seat, was leaning. The moon seemed to be sailing above…
Assignment three: Imaginative essay. (c) Gangs are a continuing issue of concern. Imagine you or a persona are a member of a New Zealand gang. Describe an occasion where you take part in gang activity. In your essay, try to show a reader possible reasons why an individual might join a gang, and depict how…
On days when the sky was absent of clouds, a certain man felt ill at ease. To alleviate this, he netted a stray, low-hanging cloud, and squeezed it inside a jar, tightly screwing the lid down. So on days when the clouds were scarce or absent, he held the jar above his head, and cheerfully…
I look across the bridge that leads out of the park and onto the street, then down at my sister’s pregnant belly. Once we cross the bridge danger might come from anywhere. I check behind, shade my eyes and scan the street ahead. My skin prickles, alert to any change in the air. We go…
Write, because something beautiful always breathes when you do. You already know the world is changing and being a writer is difficult. Breathe deeply. That’s one of the only things you’ll have to do on your own. None of your friends have any idea what writing is like, so both your privacy and writing won’t…