New poetry (untitled) by Wellington writer Gregory Kan.

I thought that the things I loved

were places I could always go back to

but the spaces between things become places themselves

and threaten to swallow me whole.

I thought that knowing in just the right way

would be enough to free me from pain.

For those of us who drowned,

and continue living underwater,

this isn’t heaven

but I hope we could come at last to love it.

Gregory Kan, 2019

Spinoff poetry editor Ashleigh Young welcomes submissions for The Friday Poem at thefridaypoem@gmail.com