Stories

We flip on the trampoline and wince as our fragile flesh scrapes the net. We stare at screens try to improve our eyesight by gazing deep into the pixelated wor ...More

When I pick her up she feels warm and frail. She’s like a giraffe sticking her neck high above the canopy searching for a decent snack. When she flies you ca ...More

Today, my feelings are too big for my body They catch and hold fast in my throat They stream down my face And burn on my skin May they emerge as kindness As ...More

Inspiration: High Pressure/Low Pressure by Josh O’Rourke   Dragons fly easy High streams of sibylline light Lazy loops of gold Ceru ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by Anne McDonald Artwork location, details and photo credit https://watchthisspace.org.nz/artwork/770 Scratching on a hairy po ...More

Slip while walking onto cold, slippery tiles into the bathroom for the twentieth time. Land on your right arm break it like a twig. Or, forget to ...More

Inspiration: Kaitaki by Fin Dac Feathers rising high above the clouds Powerful wāhine warrior, our guardian Watching and waiting Protecting Christchur ...More

In my game, Zombies roam. In my game, Creepers groan. In my game, skeletons run with arrows & bows. In my game, I am the only good guy. In my g ...More

I remember the clock He liked to count down Whether we liked it or not, Whether we smiled or frowned He hung in my house On the nursery wall We saw him as ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by Cracked Ink   Silver fences keep me from the touch of tourists. I am kissed by cameras, spoken around, as though I have ...More

Find the hidden sequence of words: the first letter of each makes the puzzle answer. e.g. he offers trust = HOT Sometimes fresh air feels like wa ...More

knitted scarves wrap around her neck while legs freeze beneath leopard-                                print legg ...More

At school, we studied the atom of protons, electrons and neutrons. Didn’t know of quarks with seven flavours, an elementary particle my dear Watson ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by Cracked Ink   Cluttered clouds brimmed the bleak sky. Rain Rapidly drenched the buildings. The gusty wind Accelerated furiously ...More

My monster is quite unique With a certain frame of mind He specialises in fear, you know The very best of his kind Although he creaks the floorboards (jumping u ...More

Inspiration: The Hector Dive by Telmo and Miel     Take me with you, Dolphin, let me Clasp tightly Onto your jagged fin Breath through your ...More

A pirate ran off with my heart today, stitched it to his billowing sleeve, which was sweet, I suppose. He pilfered my shirt too, refusing to do his own la ...More

This isn’t the beginning, but somewhere in the middle; she’s clambering the leftover scaffold like the flying fox on YouTube she saw scaling ...More

This line is the marriage line. It’s open-ended. This line is the intellect. It’s a circle inside a circle. This line is the heart line. Like the water ...More

Take some Milky Way dust Mix in some galaxies Wrench some light from inside a black hole It should be spaghettified and tender Knead in some rust ...More

Oh bicycle, Oh bicycle, I shall call you Amelia. Amelia, Amelia, I love you so. You carry me around. Amelia, Amelia, Riding you is divine. You are t ...More

I am a kākāpō. I live in Whenua Hou (Codfish Island). I BOOM rimu berries. They are delicious. I TWEET mosses and ferns. They are padded. I HOO ...More

Google maps you take me though the underpass fast on my bike in the night my lights flash on the shapes of down and outs the louts, layabouts who shout obsceni ...More

Yessssss, I thought the first day of Lockdown Breakfast was yum on the first day of Lockdown It was cloudy School was out on the first day of Lock ...More

Despite the Lockdown the tides continue to tumble and dance against the land’s surfaces each trying to reach their destination. Each grit of sand flo ...More

When a baby is born, it’s the happiest day of your life You are handed a bundle of perfection, You make a promise to be the baby’s protec ...More

Trailing my clackity clack bumblebee Golly in the other hand, I follow the tall back of my Dad down the garden path. Full of questions, I shadow him ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by Berst Artwork location, details and photo credit https://watchthisspace.org.nz/artwork/456 A strange creature followed me. Enchant ...More

Meet her in the forest You’ll find her fascinating She may not welcome you but she has no choice in this The tree which she is forever linked to ...More

The murmur of voices Are symphony to flashing lights Tapping keys Coloured lines of code Changing Adjusting Advancing. Jumbles of letters Make up words I can ...More

Inspiration: She came from the stars by Vexta   Cracks in calm conversational contrast A headstrong song holds on as They play along She’s fine ...More

Miraculously the Yellow dagger Somehow appeared on the Table next to the Elevating bottle Really, this was all very strange Yet, started makin ...More

Kiss frogs. Sleep for 100 years. Turn into a human and not speaking. Sneak out late at night. Change your mum into a bear and back again. Lose your shoes. Fa ...More

You can do it for fitness You can do it for play You can ride your bike All of the day When you drive in a car It creates pollution Join with me Start the bike ...More

Inspiration: Forces by Dr. Suits     Geometry at odds And connected Evolving blues and yellows Sea and sky, Community repatterning Young, ...More

The baby’s finally asleep. The father is home from work. I haven’t been alone in days. This is it…. “She’s asleep”…”I’m just off f ...More

  Prefabricated tilt-slab with steel reinforcing shipped from a Guangzhou factory a city street long. Delivered by a bevy of cranes criss-crossing a hung ...More

To send a letter you must have something important to say. Got it? Good, now write it on a piece of paper, then pop it in an envelope and seal it wi ...More

because of their size they gather crystals and clouds sharp and sparse collections of sun-catchers until that first nasty week in June then they look soft ...More

Feijoas roll down the roof to be pecked by the birds startling the rats which scurry above. A grimy workbench dusty with tools next to a soggy, wet lead ...More

I miss you, Life Outside the Gate. ​My gate isn’t very high, but now it feels like the top is touching the clouds. ​Whenever I think about before ever ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by D Side     Cluck, cluck, cluck, A pirate digging. Dig, dig, dig, Deeper in the sand. Brr, brr, The tree leaves swishing, S ...More

I was two years old when I got my first bike It was better than your little trike We found it in the bushes My dad fixed it up for me He welded it bac ...More

Inspiration: Kaitaki by Fin Dac     Ōtautahi I am the guard  Keeper of the land protector of my children Teacher of my students I am the em ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by Berst Artwork location, details and photo credit https://watchthisspace.org.nz/artwork/456   Picture this ……. Calming ...More

Nobody told me to dress for an apocalypse black raincoat, sweater yellow ‘To match the bees,’ I said, only they’ve all disappeared and the l ...More

you visit Tuesday after the accident, arms full of pink stargazers and crossword puzzles asking about my slip tentatively, a tight-lipped smile as you si ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by Richard “Pops” Baker   Don’t hang me on the wall of your lounge Freeze frame frozen in time I need ...More

Inspiration: High Pressure/Low Pressure by Josh O’Rourke     Rarer than gold Water shading, light dancing, greased lightning. Shim ...More

Flowers. There are a lot of flowers. Every day someone crouches by me, one hand on their heart and the other holding a bunch of flowers. Lilies, lilacs, roses, ...More

The talk and chatter of my family over the hum of the radio, beneath the conversations of the sheep and the rustle of plants, dancing in the wind. Al ...More

don’t you find this world absolutely hilarious? one second, the globe is turning and earth’s on the brink of extinction: the next the world is still turn ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by Tepid and Wisk     A continuous loop repeating itself. A couple seconds closer to your birthday. A few seconds closer ...More