Waiting

They spoke animatedly about
capacity and he tangata.
I replaced their water,
tried not to hover.

I imagined making good points
– cake-cutting, smiling –
my words spoken like spells
over a cauldron.

They were the last table to leave.
One woman had a work card,
so the bill was thankfully
simple.

She’d adored the baby pāua
on its bed of lavender foam.

I wiped down, stacked and vacuumed.
Omar was prepping for tomorrow.
He gave me dahl and roasted cauli
to take home.

Time slows when you’re tired.
It took forever to unlock my broomstick
and attach the lights.
Did I have everything?
I rechecked my backpack.

Distance chimed its distant chime.
Every lurch of headlights
brought a brief bow-wave of fear,
but I love the small hours when they open out
under the stars.

A final climb, then the sweep into
the suburb where I roomed … some jumpy clouds
across the moon … the calabash
run away with
the spoon.

James Brown

James Brown lives in Wellington. His Selected Poems was published by Te Herenga Waka University Press in 2020. ‘Waiting’, ‘The Magic Show‘ and ‘Love Poem‘ are from Slim Volume (Te Herenga Waka University Press, forthcoming 2024).