after hardship after hardshipthe yellow guava’s five equal trunks only sprout leaf clustersthe size of a hand— each bough a furred tailemerged from earth— no branches wander offno delicacy extends— all cards held close for hundreds of losable little betsand no guavas to speak of(maybe ten at the extremitiesand small) having determined(though surely not in these words)to transition from productive to ornamentallike the tin flour sifteror the…
Kua taka te pōTū tonu ana ngā rākauHe ara atarau E hora ake mai nei Te Ara MamakuE huna ai i ngā tini whetūAnō nei Te MangōroaAnō nei he ikarangi kēNgunungunu ai I ngā pakiaka huhua Rikoriko maiWhakahīnātore maiTitia maiKātahi te whakaohomauriPai nei! E ngā whetū rikiriki waiwaiāE ngā Titiwai, tēnā koutou! Paekākā i te Pō |…
three days post-opthere are five lefton Alone UK the one who dances in the forestgets lost in treeswho curses at birds the one who boils underwear in a potso bears won’t comefor the smell of blood the one who weeps for a squirrelwho takes its toothto carve a coal tattoo the one without fishwho starves laughingfrom…
It’s early November and the warmingdawn air carries the certainty ofchange. Inside, the tap finally pourswarm ready for my post-run lemonwater. For fear of waking anyone (and this fearruns deep) I choose the woodenchopping board over the formicabench-top on which to place my glass as Iundertake the ritual of slicingyellow flesh— I figure wood is…
After Marama Salsano’s ‘Bloodwork’ Every few months I fill an inkwell with my blood and watch other people start writing with it.They dip the pointed heads of their pens into the jar and draw up just enoughto write a quarterly entry in their notes about me.I assume they record how my blood works. One lifts the bottle…
We’re so excited the incredible Renee Liang is judging the Monica Taylor Poetry Prize 2024! Dr Renee Liang 梁文蔚 MNZM is a poet, paediatrician, playwright and essayist. After exploring open mics in Broken Hill, Australia, Renee joined the MC team at Poetry Live, becoming known for running slams. Since then Renee has become a jack…
Anne Kennedy’s recent books are The Sea Walks into a Wall, The Ice Shelf, and, as editor, Remember Me: Poems to Learn by Heart from Aotearoa New Zealand. Awards and fellowships include the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry, the NZ Post Book Award for Poetry, and the IIML Writers Residency. Anne is the…
The departure was as awkward as how it started. Moving a flaccid mattress between Wellington flats. One hundred and eleven steps down, fifty-seven up. Then fifty-seven down and one hundred and eleven up, back to the van to get more stuff: your Penguin book collection, Vice magazines, SodaStream, coffee machine, rare and dear-to-you vinyl (Aztec…
Kārerarerapale like fresh growthof māhoe across Zealandia’svalley in spring, or atasty Granny Smithto be cooked up in a pudding Kākārikia beautiful rich green, like (obvs)the native parrot that Mumbred out at the farmwith red or yellow crownsand cheeky little chatters Kārikiuridark green like a Christmas treewith spiky upturned branchesthat give ‘the finger’or my old school…
I don’t see cats chatting with their mates, lamenting their work performance,dissecting their every yowl and mew,wishing they’d said it differently,if they should have stayed late, wonderinghow the other cats might judge them. I don’t see dogs lying awake at nightturning that conversation over and overin their minds, worrying over it like they woulda bone. They…