forehead kiss at turtle pond

you walk so fast! you have drunk

three quarters of your coke

and gone to the bathroom

your campus is green and quiet

only strange birds, a water feature

the pond is full of tadpoles

and clumsy baby turtles

the mosquitos love my blood

this morning you took a picture

of me taking a picture of flowers

we got custardy coffees and

ate pastries in the shade

of a stranger’s front lawn

wrecked bikes and wildflowers

in tableau across the street

I don’t know what to say to you

there isn’t enough time and anyway

you are already coming back to me

I can hear you walking across the grass

Leah Dodd lives in Pōneke Wellington. Her first collection of poetry, Past Lives, was published in 2023 by Te Herenga Waka University Press. Shortly before that, she received the Biggs Family Prize in Poetry for her work completed during an MA at the International Institute of Modern Letters.