an Aotearoa poetry journal | ISSN 2744-3248

Poems by Mary Cresswell

The Downsizing: Year 3

Mary Cresswell

Published on
page 16 of Tarot #5
(Dec 2022)

“There’s some funny winds out there,”
said the boatman, scratching his neck.

The first easterly (ever) roared down,
laying unprepared trees on their backs.

Deep contour troughs of rain collected
like overhead ponds and then dumped

gallons too thick to see through, too thin
to handle hydro dams in the south.

Grey-green children howled at the door
dripping with things that used to matter

yelling for more, and more, and more
while the rivers ran upside down.

Query

Mary Cresswell

Published on
page 24 of Tarot #5
(Dec 2022)

My ideas scull the thermals
they come back to settle by my feet

The ginger cat wafts like seed-pod fluff
cruising the margins of his drift

Books line shelves, words line books
coffee cups line the kitchen sink

When power lines end in infinity
how should we ask where they start?