Two poems - takahē

Susannah and the Elders

You are Susannah and you cannot escape the Elders.
You are beautiful and you are delicate, therefore—
But it is more than that. Your face
And your step is a titillation,
An ongoing open invitation
That bites at your naked heels.

They smell your weakness, rendered
Sensual, as you rot beneath your neck.
Your mouth is a dead woman’s mouth, bursting with
Snapdragons and black dahlias.

Beg for release, stand your ground. Fall into their
Hands. Cry out in a voice that
Tumbles
Down
From a pedestal.
It does not matter. It lands with a heavy thud.
You are condemned.
They will tell you to put your faith in

God. Raise your eyes to the heavens, as
Hungrier eyes gnaw at your thigh
And hip bones. Look to God, girl, and
Ignore how you are
Watched on the bus, on the train, on your
Walk through the city.

Do not fear being followed
Or the first stone cast at your feet.
Eroticism is a sin, baked in
To your flesh that begs to be
Touched.

I cannot stand to look at a
Crying woman.

You are Susannah
But we are the Elders.

We Used to Take This Line Together

I ask the woman next to me on the train if he still loves me.

Wellington Harbour rushes past, the dark blue of a vein on his neck. She doesn’t have to say the answer. I hear it in the disappointed tilt of her head. I’m being embarrassing, but the city has become a smudge behind my shoulder.

You don’t understand, I say. All my friends are bored of me. Who else am I supposed to talk to?

His parliamentary head and olive branch thigh and fingers following Cuba Street down my spine. The lemon rind jawbone of an Upper Hutt man. That car that stank of Paekākāriki driving through the last warm days of autumn, the last of his warmth for me.

Do you? she asks.

Do I what?

Do you still love him?

That car blew a tyre while he was picking me up from the airport once. I don’t think he ever forgave me.

Lauren Connolly is a library assistant living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. She will write until she dies, but until then she enjoys collecting handbags, swimming in Oriental Bay, and reading in the sun. You can also find her work published in Kate Magazine.