Picture

Lynda sends a photo of lilies she bought
for the gravestone our parents share.
61 years, her text says. I haven’t kept
tabs on their wedding anniversary.
Hadn’t our father stopped counting after
our mother was gone? That spot on her
lung he couldn’t divorce himself from.
It had legs and means to crawl over her.
They couldn’t isolate it, like he could:
Janice in the doorway, blocking his
escape from what she was saying. A hole
filled with the length of her confessing
what had been happening under
her nose. Framed, for not looking.

Brent Kininmont

Brent Kininmont has written two books of poetry: The Companion to Volcanology (2025) and Thuds Underneath (2015), published by Te Herenga Waka University Press. He is based in Tokyo, where he leads seminars in intercultural communication for Japan-based companies and organisations.