WES LEE

 

Wearing Today
After Joanne Burns, ‘Keyhole’

 

wearing today like a dream of vacant motels. the swimming pools empty. silent topiaries. a
SWAT team slowly moving in a line against the blinding white face of a building. a Basquiat
bursting in your brain. wearing today like a new city. a silent cocoon. a sudden crack. wearing
today like a cry. laughing a few seconds later. like a nurse who tells you to press the green
button to get out. you can no longer see a doctor without a witness. wearing today like a
favourite toy. a kite’s uplift. a kind word. a child’s importance. wild in a startled horse’s eye.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wes Lee lives in Wellington. She has three poetry collections and her work has appeared in numerous publications. Most recently she was shortlisted for the Heroines/Joyce Parkes Women’s Writing Award 2022, in New South Wales, The Alastair Reid Poetry Pamphlet Prize 2022, in Scotland and the NZSA Peter & Dianne Beatson Fellowship 2022. She is the featured poet in the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2022.

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