4 January 2018
Therese Lloyd shares three new poems from her forthcoming collection The Facts, to be launched by Victoria University Press during Writers & Readers in Wellington in March.
Therese Lloyd is the 2018 Writer in Residence at Waikato University. The Facts (VUP) will be available in March 2018.
Funeral Playlist
There you go, leaving
to be at your father’s death bed,
a bit more life shaved off
each day you live.
I haven’t met him
and you drive
badly
through the night
past the moon-supporting ocean
armoured up and frightened
of your fears
to be there
when he breathes his last.
In my confusion
and in your neediness
I kissed the black eye
I gave you
and I am not sorry
for your grief
and I will wear my best dress
Please note, I’d like
Into My Arms,
Here’s Where the Story Ends
and Avalon too, if there’s time.
The soft body of desire creeps like a bug over you
There are layers and levels
that must exist for the burying of matter
The strata of quiet and storm lapping
reads like new information to me
Terrified of all that I don’t know
yet it’s been lumped inside me
since the moment I was conceived
Where to next? I carried the oversized atlas
back to the Geology Department library—
no one there wanted it. It was outdated and too big to shelve
But the landmasses are still there, the countries still named
How does an atlas become unusable?
The classic quest narrative
set me on a voyage, a dumb, blind voyage
Desire for the invisible equals trouble every time
Our travel plans to Europe were crooked. You
knew it. I knew it. And the dog too
She shook the bone like it was attached
like it still had blood and flesh. She took the bone
and buried it half-arsed into the earth
Conquering flesh is easy. Close your eyes
now think of Columbus.
By Sunday
You refused the grapefruit
I carefully prepared
Serrated knife is best
less tearing, less waste
To sever the flesh from the sinew
the chambers where God grew this fruit
the home of the sun, that is
A delicate shimmer of sugar
and perfect grapefruit sized bowl
and you said, no, God, no
I deflated a little
and was surprised by that
What do we do when we serve?
Offer little things
as stand-ins for ourselves
All of us here
women standing to attention
knives and love in our hands
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