There’s a man trapped inside a bottle He can’t breathe, can’t move One eye is bulging out, pressed against the bottle’s neck Thick glass narrowing further, vice-like, around his brow Force-fed veal calf constricted Oh God! Do I smash it with a hammer to let him out?… Read the rest

Window-lickers Looking for fun Looking in from the outside Noses pressed, and steaming, to glass Hands cupping either side of straining eyes like racehorse blinkers Attempting to shield from the sun’s glare They will not be distracted Candy sweet temptations Salivating strangers gather to taste What they perceive as forbidden fruit What is denied becomes so highly prized , It’s irresistible Theirs is such conspicuous privilege Always having to up the stakes to be satiated But never, ever satisfied… Read the rest

Am I curious enough to want your child? When she and I will soon stand, hand in tiny hand, silently watching as they bury your remains at Waikamete Shot down in battle right between bloodshot eyes blindsided. Hadn’t sensed the sniper, at zero paces, for years creeping beside you Awarded the Enlarged Purple Heart.… Read the rest

There’s a hungry concrete-muncher eating up the motorway one row of houses down Don’t tell the council, or, the cone stackers in their reflective vests, that the freshly painted white road markings are all pointing in the wrong direction and I’ve had a gutsfull Trees leer over the fence listening for snippets of wiser recollections from their youth Cabbage trees stick their heads up And pretend they don’t notice any Saturday morning sex in the back garden The moon slowly gets changed behind the clouds.… Read the rest

I’ll see you this day – and raise you another Pare the fruit of it with a barter-tucked flick knife – even eat the pips I’ll try not to let the juices soil your outdoor chairs – but I’m not making any promises Yellow and white daisies look like wobbly child brides Ripped up and cutoff while bathing naked in Nixon Park’s tall handsome grass Sport for the gratification of taxidermied deer-head blanket carriers or the fanciers of elephant’s-foot ashtrays My woozy insides drip dappled patterns on the secretly weeded slate squares Swimming in silverfish gold pools of sunlight… Read the rest