New verse by Wellington writer Jenny Bornholdt

 

Time

We woke

to spring nuzzling at

the window.

Winter’s passed, like

last night’s hail

in the gin.

Frozen puddle

in the freezer

a reminder;

like our son’s

placenta, still there

after eleven years—

us frozen

by indecision,

which tree

and where?

Sons grown to men.

One sister blown

away, two

here to stay.

Time passes quickly

in this bed,

the child said.

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The newly published Selected Poems (Victoria University Press, $40) by Jenny Bornholdt is available at Unity Books.