Poetry & essays

Why chickens are the answer for me

  When we moved to Helensville, I didn’t realise how much of a selling point it was that our house came with a chicken coop. I was a naïve townie. It was all about the bath and the 360-degree trees and the Mackenzie hills, and the generous number of local cafes. We have four brown shavers, ... read more

Tapestry

We get together to weave threads into a tapestry It’s all about relationships and finding intimacy   Finding the boundaries and then relaxing So that you have someone holding the line when you are collapsing   Unearth the trauma and start talking It’s more than medical it includes ... read more

For the hurting

I won’t say I know how you feel As I truly don’t, Or that time will heal everything For right now, it won’t. I won’t flood you with platitudes Because they’re never enough For right now there’s nowhere to go This fiercest of love. I won’t say take up running... read more

Expecting

I walk in. Expecting. White walls, white coats, sterile, needles, and seclusion. But my time's pale yellow, light green. I expect to feel bored and broken, but there's dancing, gossiping, baking and singing.... read more

Grief is

Hearing chords/Looking up/Blinking away thoughts Of who Might have been   Grief is Squeezing the wheel/Feeling unsure/Pushing away thoughts Of where I can drive to now   Grief is Staring at the paper/Seeing red/Flushing away thoughts Of why This happened to us   Grief is Moaning in ... read more

I blame you

The last kisses permeate the carpet threads. A container of letters belonging to boxes under your bed. Like a basin of doubt you wash over logic.   Maybe it’s not your fault   that the graze on your kneecap blinds. Maybe it’s not the stubbing of the toe that leaves the stains on the ... read more

In pain

  I am so in pain     confused ripped apart raw gates of shot pulsating puke of machinery synapses will you let me in will you fill my grin will you spill my sin take me take   me hard as nails spilled out of town.   I am   crying out for   help but you retract ... read more

Nine months

It is nine months today. Since you joined us and we became three. Nine months of nappies. Nine months of smelly bums and smellier bins. Nine months of being ecstatically happy and devastatingly sad. Nine months of looking for a new identity as your identity is emerging. Nine months of real ... read more

Tender

The heat of our necks pressed against impress My imperfect darling. Warm stone, cold face, warm face, cold stone Stencils lace and linger.   Crevice of your knuckles a scattered silk And timed vows of rupture Spreading our lines to a suburban fence And tongues imprint hot cheeks.   A glove... read more

What to expect when you’re no longer expecting

At the park just across the road, the swings hang on long chains and, I know it can’t be, but the seat feels like it’s a good metre from the AstroTurf. When I push her, I’m filled with a mix of fear and fun as she goes back to the hills, forward to the sky, back to the hills, ... read more