What do you want?
said the librarian
in Friendly Feilding
to come in from the cold
was my reply
we’re closing an hour early
for a function
the function I’d driven down for
I walked away
he’s crying
but he doesn’t know
why he’s crying
said my sister
to the primer one teacher
who wanted to know why
I guess I do too
I guess I do
I was small and afraid
of a brand-new place
so many people
but what remains
is kindness
my sister
trying to help
unavailingly
Jack Ross
Jack Ross’s novel The Annotated Tree Worship was highly commended in the 2018 NZ Heritage Book Awards. He has written five poetry collections and six other volumes of fiction. He works at Massey University, and is the managing editor of Poetry New Zealand. His blogs here.