Zach Webb
PosturE
2017
We sat in a tree. Me in the crook of the trunk, you with knees hooked on a higher branch so your hair hung in front of me. We imagined the tree was an archer’s tower. You drew upside down and the arrow landed dead centre in the field.
2020
We lay on the carpet, in front of a red-and-blue television. Your neck bent to politicians debating, me on my side facing you. I was picking at a platter of cheese and meat when you whispered: This is politics. Do you care? In the bathroom, I googled: NZ politics explained. When I spoke, you laughed. You were four inches taller than me so my eyes were at your lips.
2025
At a Māpua beach restaurant we sit across from each other, my shoulders back and yours forward. The sun hits your acne scars. I can’t catch your eyes. Our parents still want to remake the photo of us up the tree, but you only make it halfway up before slipping. Then you look up to me.
Zach Webb is a Law student at Canterbury University. He likes miso soup and his cat Benedict, and he is excited to get baptised next year.