LYNN JENNER

 

Oh Road!

 

I have heard it said 
that a man’s soul follows behind him 
guessing at his intentions. 
Thanks to an energetic communications strategy 
I know you move twelve thousand 
cubic metres of dirt per day, 
you have thirteen partially-completed bridges 
and, by the time you are done, 
you will have moved three and a half million 
cubic metres of dirt. Informative signage 
notwithstanding, I still know nothing 
of your intentions. 

 

How will we look to them?

 

We’ll just stick to the local roads 
and that is fine, he said. 
They can all whizz by up there 
and that is fine too but who knew 
it was going to be so high? 
We must look 
like ants to them. 
He wiggles all of his fingers at once 
and his thumbs as well. 
His fingers are stained with grass. 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

‘Dear Mr Brasch’, ‘Oh Road!’ and ‘How will we look to them?’ are part of Lynn Jenner’s current project Oh Road! — a collection of poems and essays documenting the arrival in Kāpiti of the MacKays to Peka Peka Expressway. Lynn Jenner is the author of Dear Sweet Harry, winner of the Jessie McKay Best First Book of Poetry in 2010, and Lost and Gone Away, published in 2015. There are samples of both books and lots of other poems, interviews and reviews on Lynn’s website Pinklight.nz.

 

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