an arrival

in the smallest hour

you broke the sky

like an egg

and it rained inside

for eternity

which was at rest

softly drumming on

the yolkless tide

of protein-rich

incandescence

which was the future

until the hills were

steeped in you

and thru the valley

came a roar like

the howling of

the world’s only poem

which was a bird

as a fantail slipped

inside the house

clung to the light cord

in the hallway

and would not let go

would not let go

would not let go

and laid a cross-hair

between the eyes

of daybreak

as I threw my jacket

over the piano

like the waltz

I’d written for you

which was indigo

and beautiful

and filled somehow

with the noise of

the muscled legs

of the valley itself

stretching, widening

which was to make room

for the division of cells

like stars appearing

inside the belly

of the swollen sun

or the skin reforming

under your tongue

which is like eternity

somehow at rest, but

rising, falling

turning, which is

akin to seeing for

the very first time.

Adam Stewart

Adam is a poet, essayist, reviewer, and writer of short fiction. He lives in Dunedin with his partner and daughter, and continues to produce work for various literary journals. He has previously been published in Sport, Hue & Cry, Turbine,  The Pantograph Punch, The Cordite Review, and Headland Journal. Adam also composes music under the moniker ∆dam Stword as part of the Backwoods Collective based in Wellington.