I’m off
down the alleyway
between the fortress
& the museum
the kids
asleep in the car
windows open a crack
—it’s alright
I’ve left them the keys
I’ve got things to do:
1. visit an angry poet
aawho sells vitamins
2. see a psychiatrist who can teach me
aarhyme & meter
3. sit in a café
aa& wait for her
4. catch a train to an outer suburb
aain revolt
5. walk the streets with a harmonica
aain my pocket
no time—stuff the rest
of my lines in my mouth
run back to the kids
an ice-block for each of them
a loaf of bread, milk
& a cheap bottle
of merlot.
Published in Poetry NZ 42, March 2011.
