A new poem from Ōtepoti-based poet Eliana Gray.

Metaphor is exhausting

I saw these lemons on the internet
Sparkling bright mould blooming
made from beads

How quaint, I thought
To take something disgusting
and make it beautiful

So beautiful, as to almost be real
Puckered rough skin inch thick
and another inch thicker, with the
green and white usually decayed but performing
the all important task- of transformation

How quaint, I thought
To pretend to be something you’re not
and end up being that self same thing
But with a different texture
and yet
so close as to be indistinguishable

These greens and whites
beading on the puckered skin
Creating rough but pretending
not performing, their task

Putting on a damn good show
of eating, consuming, being alive

How quaint, I thought
To have the luxury
of only pretending
to rot

The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are welcome and will be open until the end of April. Please send your poems to chris@christse.co.nz.