Fiction    Reading Room    Memoir    Interview

New Zealand interview

At the end of the day
it doesn’t matter about the rest
of the world or whether the earth
goes round the sun. You see,
Julie, at the end of the day
people don’t want to be out-of-date
constantly looking over their shoulders
standing on their heads to see television
rolling down the street like orange jaffas –
no, they don’t want that.
 
At the end of the day you wouldn’t
tackle a giant with a shoelace
give up your car to get about
in a rainbow-coloured balloon
hop down the street on your left foot
to save shoe leather
rip up your lawn to plant ferns –
I mean how would you barbecue
and where would your trampoline go?
Can you see that happening, Julie,
can you? And it’s absurd to think
people would trust a person
who slips through walls
love someone who wins all the prizes
admire a celeb who’s always dropping the pill
take shit from a piker (unless there’s really
something in it for them).
 
I’m sorry, Julie, I’m sorry
but it just won’t happen.
Much as I’d like it
much as you’d like it
at the end of the day
we all live in one tent
swim with the herd
obey the law
drive the car
walk the dog to the corner
and back
wear shoes that go clipperty-clop
while our mouths go yakerty-yak
live in the community
want a good price for our houses –
so I’m sorry about that.
 
You see, Julie, at the end of the day
people don’t want airy crumbs
they can’t live on poetry, pies in the sky,
they don’t want fat blokes in transparent suits
to feel guilty about things they can’t fix
love without being loved in return.
At the end of the day, they’ve got to vote
and pay the pills (sorry I mean bills)
know that the sun comes up, the moon
goes down, the earth is round
curtains get drawn, cars start, dogs yap
cats purr, babies scream, and that we,
we’re doing all we can. Yes, Julie
it’s all very well to win ugly
but at end of the day
when it comes
to the nitty gritty, when the sun
goes down, Julie, I think you’ll see
I’m right.
 
Poetry
Johanna Aitchison
Michele Amas
Angela Andrews
Sarah Barnett
David Beach
Ken Bolton
Jenny Bornholdt
Rachel Bush
Mary Cresswell
Stephanie De Montalk
Cliff Fell
Tom Fitzsimons
Brian Flaherty
David Geary
Bernadette Hall
Kerry Hines
Andrew Johnston
Therese Lloyd
Iggy McGovern
Mary Macpherson  
Dora Malech
Vana Manasiadis
Emma Neale
Gregory O'Brien
Lucy Orbell
Zach Savich
Charlotte Simmonds
Marty Smith
Elizabeth Smither
Abby Stewart
Robert Sullivan
Jo Thorpe
Cath Vidler
Louise Wallace
Ashleigh Young

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