ZARAH BUTCHER McGUNNIGLE

 

The Gap

 
That summer 
I was crunching 
on your absence. 
I worked at a dentist’s 
twice a week 
stacking rows of false teeth, 
saying ‘We’re ready 
for you now’ and 
‘Spit into the sink’. 
 
When I met someone 
for the first time 
I looked at 
their mouth 
instead of their eyes. 
 
In my dreams 
I saw: white light, 
your figure on a cliff, 
an abyss. 
When I called, 
my teeth would 
fall and crumble. 
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

2008 is Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle’s last year at Western Springs College in Auckland. She was long-listed in the secondary schools division of the Sunday Star-Times’ short story competition this year, and won third place in 2007. She has appeared in Re-Draftseveral times and has two poems in the New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology 2008. She is looking forward to studying creative writing at university.

 

Return to 2008 contents >