ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joan Fleming lives in Golden Bay, where she tutors and gardens and writes. A clutch of her poems was published this year in the DUETS chapbook series, and she is working on a collection of prose poems, all of which are ‘conversations’, of sorts. ‘Carpet Talking to the Mother’s Feet’ is one of these. ‘All my friends seem to be having babies, and having a baby seems to mean walking all day back and forth inside your own house. This poem grew out of wondering what the house might be trying to say to the mothers, and to the babies, who are already growing up.’