Rachel Lockwood
God’s Sweet Little Darling
She has been living in my room for two weeks now
and I have a policy of non-intervention when she gets too close to the lightbulb.
I wake up at all hours to the mighty rattle of her wings against my walls,
starting to be convinced that 2am has a message for me.
The sun is a hot gem, transforming my commute into a hatchet job,
me and the dusty windscreen bludgeoning each other to death.
At work we talk about the instinctual and ancestral fear everyone is born with
of burning to death on an offshore oil rig.
We swap tips about piranhas, and quicksand, and lava,
then depart to write letters on community gardens with teenagers.
During the drive I have stuffed the fear back inside me,
and the dazzling stream of light follows me all the way home.
One in the bathroom. Two more in the upper corner of the window frame.
And I know I need love and fortune,
so I forget about sleeping the whole night through.
Rachel Lockwood is a Hawke's Bay gal and a secondary school teacher. She has been previously published in Starling, Mayhem, and the 2023 NZ Poetry Yearbook, among others.