Shapes

Inspiration: Artwork by Owen Dippie

Ballerina twirling past me dressed in a beautiful blue. Two girls invite me to play their game
of hide and seek. A sprinting rugby player rushes past and shoves the ball into my chest. A
boy in a boat stands and wanders up to me. He asks politely where I’m going while it’s a
rising tide. A mysterious lady made of what seems to be brick looks quite blankly at me then
wanders off, a fern hanging in front of her face. A stampede of elephants charges at the
person next to me. I watch as they run through her. The next street has shops all lined up in
a row on either side of the tram I board. As we chug past other strange creature I think. Only
some get to see Christchurch’s beautiful streets filled with queer and unusual colours and
shapes. I stare out the window but everything is compressed into the walls of shops and
buildings. I get off here. I keep walking when I see my old friend now flat on a wall. Tears
trickle down my cheeks, more streets go by and then I stop. A lady with what seems like
lighting hands just winked at me. After that I’ve forgotten it all.

Some comments from the selection panel:

“This piece references street artwork through-out the city. It’s a sweet, dream-like journey through the CBD”

The Commuting Book Paint n’ Pen Creative Writing Programme is a collaboration between Christchurch City Libraries, The School For Young Writers, Watch This Space, Evans Taylor Digital and supported by Christchurch City Council’s Enliven Places Projects Fund and Publica