Big Nanna’s Porridge Sea-bacon, burnt butter wake me from my Space 1999 slumber, kahawai swimming at Mohaka’s mouth not but an hour ago until Dad’s reti board dragged the mottled flesh into Mum’s pan. ‘Big Nanna wants you for breakfast – don’t let her see you do that. Take these from Dad.’ Mottled …
Category: 2015
Permanent link to this article: https://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/past-issues/4th-floor-2015/contents-2015/darryn-joseph-big-nannas-porridge/
Catherine English
1 | 2 Gun Laws If I had a gun I’d paint it in gold leaf and put it in a glass box frame and hang it on the wall with a sign that says: in emergency break the glass, if I had a gun it would be a baby browning and it …
Permanent link to this article: https://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/past-issues/4th-floor-2015/contents-2015/catherine-english-gun-laws/
Ann French
Meagre Rations You cut through my feelings like a hot knife slicing butter sautéed me in a pan turned the heat up to ‘high’. I sizzled for a while edges turned golden, then brown finally black. You ladled me onto a plate served me up with a sprig of parsley called the entire dish …
Permanent link to this article: https://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/past-issues/4th-floor-2015/contents-2015/ann-french-meagre-rations/
Tia Ysolde
Turbulence The Beaufort Scale is the scale of the windforce low on ebb and flow, the sail is the monarch’s wings which sings, on a flower – the ‘Early Cheer’ that is here, on the coast, on a southerly, sunny honeyed day The Beaufort Scale is the scale of the …
Permanent link to this article: https://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/past-issues/4th-floor-2015/contents-2015/tia-ysolde-turbulence/
Sandi Sartorelli
1 | 2 | 3 Planet of Dreams – Medical Officer’s Records – 20 January, 2265 Our flight path past the abandoned planet was leaked to the crew. Next thing we knew they were rioting in the corridors, and the chef was missing. I found my patient under an apple tree on the planet …
Permanent link to this article: https://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/past-issues/4th-floor-2015/contents-2015/sandi-sartorelli-planet-of-dreams/
Robert Stratford
Letter to Rosina Rosa smiled at me this morning Nana – that same blue-eyed cheeky grin you made langered on the brandy and the voices of my uncles – in that railway house in Moera. Irish eyes and Danny Boy – washboards, spoons and bottle tops as you handed …
Permanent link to this article: https://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/past-issues/4th-floor-2015/contents-2015/robert-stratford-letter-to-rosina/
Mikoyan Vekula
Sensational Plates Dirt and wayward grass in fields Manure and fodder, pretty much the same thing. Stampede for a feed and hay bales dressed in rolls of plastic. Chewed straw and a quick shot McDraw from Taupō, slash, T-bone steak and veg that’s chow come. Know what I mein. Number-8 wire and …
Permanent link to this article: https://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/past-issues/4th-floor-2015/contents-2015/mikoyan-vekula-sensational-plates/
Mercedes Webb-Pullman
1 | 2 Identify Yourself They Said I was born in the wasteland of forests and gods, on the tail of our fish, near the spirit trail between tide lines along Ninety Mile Beach that leads to the place of leaving. The sea sang my first welcome in heartbeats, wind keened slow lullabies …
Permanent link to this article: https://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/past-issues/4th-floor-2015/contents-2015/mercedes-webb-pullman-identify-yourself/
Mandy Hager
The Thrill of the Chase I once heard a poet describe standing in a field and hearing a poem race towards her. She knew she only had seconds to reach out and grab it, before it overtook her and disappeared. To anyone who is not a writer this sounds completely crazy. But to those …
Permanent link to this article: https://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/past-issues/4th-floor-2015/contents-2015/mandy-hager-the-thrill-of-the-chase/
Lesley Watkins
Childhood Apology – yes, I took the pear I apologise Didn’t mean it to be so random It just caught my eye Wasn’t meant to be so like it was It just happened that it was Didn’t mean it to offend wanted it so much Maybe now we’ve had this talk we can forget …
Permanent link to this article: https://4thfloorjournal.co.nz/past-issues/4th-floor-2015/contents-2015/lesley-watkins-childhood-apology/
