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Pohutukawa_flower_stamens_and_styles

BooksAugust 14, 2020

The Friday Poem: passport to the seasons by E Wen Wong

Pohutukawa_flower_stamens_and_styles

A new poem from Christchurch poet and environmental activist E Wen Wong.

passport to the seasons

leaves
f
  a
     l
       l
crisp
like coconut husks, fraying
threads of winter’s snow.
the hairs of the pōhutukawa stand on their necks
doused in a chilli seeds
they hang
like red alfalfa sprouts
on an avocado candle
gazing into mirror
presidential blue

reflecting
charcoal pencil
over your oak skin
you are a painter’s peccant palette
bitter    on a walnut floor
burnt
swirls
of airport
traffic
like seasons, two fingerprints                   lost
in travel. in this city we are     ruffled                  doormats
trees
rounding imperfections
inequalities unsolved.
questions the mockery of unison accents just sitting
on the edge
of our teeth.

 

Submissions to the Friday Poem are welcome and will be open until the end of September. Please send your poems to chris@christse.co.nz

Keep going!