Afterword
Amy Leigh Wicks (Victoria University of Wellington)
What is more real, the things I can touch
or the things I cannot? I am the third
child of four, born on the 336th day.
Today is and tomorrow has not yet come.
I was painting my nails and the colour was plum.
It can’t always be about me, there is so much
to learn in one life. Sudoku, child locks,
pocket change under the sofa; are they here for
us or are we here for them? It is barely August
and already life is at its crisis. Is there another
way to get around all of the landmines? My mother
sent two sons into the Navy and they did not come
home but they did not die either. Some day
she will know we all survived on love. Family–
a constellation crudely constructed, desperately
interdependent for a while and then time
unthreads the yarn and rewinds the stars. How can
I be in a new galaxy with one bright star lover?
We remember where we came from and approach
the edges of space on our knees to see why
some stars float and others revolve.
Amy Leigh Wicks is an American poet from New York City. Some of her recent work can be found in Turbine, Ika 3 Journal, and NYSAI Literary Magazine. She lives with her husband in New Zealand and is a PhD candidate at Victoria University of Wellington.
