A new poem by Jonny Mahon-Heap.

Concrete

I waited for the pain to shift. I had bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day
good day good day bad day bad day bad day bad day. I had birthdays. I held my
breath for a long time. I thought it was all epilogue. I looked like a Looney Tunes
character. I saw stars circling around my head. I tried to think relatively. I scrapped
together proof of my faith. I waited longer than you can imagine. I tried to shrink
time. I thought I was the worst man ever made. I tried to collapse myself. I
underwent several controlled explosions. I stepped out of the demolition site. That
was seven years ago. There’s nothing growing yet. No resource consent. I kept
making submissions and realising they were all oppositions. I left the site, circled the
block, came back again. I looked for something—anything—in the cracks of the
pavement.