Rome
Rome wasn't built in a day.
But you aren't Rome.
You are Timaru at best.
With expired resource consents
and an impatient local body.
So we’ll trudge slow
Along Mount Horrible
With sweaty thumbs and
Nails bitten to the quick.
Together we’ll grab some rope and pick and pick and
pull at each thread
be careful not to get a strand
wound
around your finger
if it is too tight
you will cut off the circulation
and you will lose the ability to grasp
make a string of
your teeth
wear them at your first love’s
wedding
paint them gold after a year
and plant them behind the rhubarb
you won’t act surprised
when only weeds grow
and the rhubarb goes to seed.
Your soil dry
and the seasons
shrunk
till the night
a wrinkled juniper
breaks through dirty halogen
and the neighbours shout
Ukrainian
from their hives
Sweet in hail
breath with
out any ex
mist en ghosted mass
that honey lick smell of
pavement sw(eat) under heel
under heels
un- do-ur close door
at foot
the flowers are inside trying to kill you
deliver me from amateur stems
etude to the empty firm a ment
of petals in the hotel sink forced open
By Jordan Hamel, Aimee-Jane Anderson O'Connor, Melody Wilkinson, Dadon Rowell, Loren Thomas, Hamish Ansley, Liam Hinton, & Tracey Slaughter:
Jordan Hamel
Jordan Hamel (he/him/his) is a Pōneke-based poet and performer. He grew up in
Timaru on a healthy diet of Catholicism and masculine emotional repression. He is the current New Zealand Poetry Slam Champion and has performed at festivals across Aotearoa. He is a poetry editor for Barren Magazine and has work published or forthcoming in Mimicry, Mojave Heart Review, Ghost City Press, Salty, and elsewhere.
Aimee-Jane Anderson-O'Connor
Aimee-Jane Anderson-O’Connor was awarded the 2018 Charles Brasch Young Writers’ Essay Prize, and was the co-winner of the 2017 Monash Prize for Emerging Writers. Her work has appeared in a number of literary journals, including Starling, Mayhem, Poetry New Zealand, Landfall, Mimicry, and Min-a-rets.
Melody Wilkinson
Melody Wilkinson who likes to also go by, Melody May is a PhD candidate at Waikato University. She has been published in Mayhem Literary Journal and her screenplay won the Sam Barn’s Award for excellence. She wants to tell stories for a long time.
Dadon Rowell
Dadon Rowell is a poet and English master's student at the University of Waikato. Her work has featured in Mayhem and the 2019 Poetry New Zealand Yearbook.
Loren Thomas
Loren Thomas is a writer based in the Waikato region. She has previously been published in Starling, Poetry New Zealand, Mayhem, and brief.
Hamish Ansley
Hamish Ansley is primarily a writer of short prose and the occasional failed poem. He completed a Master's thesis about masculinity in contemporary fiction at the University of Waikato in 2017, and so far has words in Poetry New Zealand and Mayhem. He was longlisted for the 2019 National Flash Fiction Day competition.