Poems by Rosina Baxter
Midsummer in Paerātā
Rosina Baxter
Published on
page 33 of Tarot #2
(June 2021)
Midsummer in Paerātā
Starlings on powerlines
Smoke rising incessantly
From the steel mill into
The wide grey sky
Opening in a soft wound
Bringing rain on the Manukau
Warm wind that carries rain
The children play
In lukewarm waves
Muddied harbour water rising
Surrounding lovers kissing
Chest deep knees sinking
Into the mudflats and
The tide is
Coming
In
It’s Like This
Rosina Baxter
Published on
page 52 of Tarot #2
(June 2021)
I’m getting used
To not saying your name
Like I’m getting used to
This crease between my eyebrows
Like I’m getting used
To polarised politics
Like I’m getting used to
Millennial rhetoric
I’m getting good at
Letting you go
I’m excelling in avoiding
Stores that play Aretha Franklin
I’ve de-cluttered my life
My heart’s been Marie Kondo-ed
I’ve let you go
Like meat, eggs and dairy
Like takeaway coffee cups
And planning overseas trips
They say absence is where
There once was presence
Like the curve in my back
Is empty of your belly
Like the gaps in my playlist
Heavy vacancies which
Won’t. Stop. Beating.
