Title: Sport 2

Editor: Fergus Barrowman

Publication details: Fergus Barrowman, April 1989, Wellington

Part of: Sport

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Sport 2: Autumn 1989

Jenny Bornholdt

page 112

Jenny Bornholdt

Going on

Time is a brick falling.
Here we can make mad
love in the space it takes
to demolish    a wall
               a ceiling
               a floor

this city is the sound
of days gone to ground
all around the buildings
shudder down
and the cranes whirl shadows
over the park and a man on a
small tractor mowing circles
on a sloped lawn.

Three black cats dispute
the disturbance and here
inside     if I put my head
against your belly     I can
hear you going on
in your body     having
touched I know
the details of you
your construction
your steady outline against
the sky.

page 113

The Loved One

Ah     you
the loved one
coming down out of the sky
like rain     your arms wide
branches     your narrowness
a song for the strong ones
a line coming across
the room to greet me.
Your hands find me out
in the world     my arms
I will take you in till
the morning and a sky
sharp with the sounds
of birds. For all of this
we take to the water
chance on an island small
as a raisin     love,
this is surprise
this is our very own
continent.

page 114

Make Sure

Make sure you fall in love with a man who you know will survive in the bush.

This way, when he is three nights overdue from his trip and the search and rescue team is out looking for him and the helicopter has been called back because the weather is closing in and they're interviewing you on television in a close-up camera shot, asking you what you think his chances are — hoping you will cry and your lip will tremble — you can look them straight in the eye and say you know he will be all right, he has had plenty of experience and he knows what to do, he was carrying plenty of food and warm clothing and he is strong.

Even if he is hurt, you know he will be all right.

He's a fighter, you'll say. He won't give in.

But the weather is closing in, you must be worried, they'll ask. You keep your resolve. He will be all right, you say. I know he will.