This poem, by Nicola Harris will appear in Now and Then: poems about generations, published October 2024.

Out-of-date

I tried for invisibility as my mother ordered
her first McDonalds at a too-slow speed.
I sighed in annoyance as my dad failed
to work the VCR – again. I swore
under my breath as I tried to teach them
to double click a mouse: “click-click”.
I rolled my eyes as self-service machines
baffled them, and the queue stretched out behind us.

Now I ponder the many unused apps
on my phone. I don’t know how
to change the settings on my rare
Facebook posts. I plug in a mouse
and keyboard so I don’t have to use
a too-sensitive touch screen. I press
the CHQ button on the EFTPOS machine
when I mean CREDIT, and the young assistant
re-starts the transaction with the
encouraging smile reserved
for the out-of-date.

---

 

This poem, by Rahi Key will appear in Now and Then: poems about generations, published October 2024.

The future is wobbly

When I think about generations,
they can be your ancestors or come after you.
The future is wobbly, and the past is solid.
I think about families passing down knowledge
and maybe the people in the future
will be learning about you too.

I am 9 years old. I live in Wellington. I like most types of writing, I like dancing, I also
like playing with my dog.

---

 

This poem, by Don Franks will appear in Now and Then: poems about generations, published October 2024.

The Club

Walled off with corrugated iron
like a gang headquarters
my mother’s hangout
The Eastbourne Women’s Bowling club

For lack of funds
“the green was rough as guts”

unlike the men’s
“We didn’t have a bar” my mother said

The membership kept playing and dwindling
in between times
issuing fresh sandwiches and scones
for men’s club gala days

“Why didn’t you merge with the men’s club?”
“The men didn’t want that”

Finally
“It wasn’t worth keeping it going”

Soon bits of fence fell off revealing
the green as rough as guts beside
an old prefab, two windows smashed

The men’s two-storied white pavilion
and billiard-table green set round
with golden kowhai
still going, lately, I hear
struggling for members.

I am a 75 year old semi retired musician. I grew up in Eastbourne, where ‘the club’ used to
be. Sometimes I write little stories or verses about things that make me happy, angry or sad.

---

 

This poem, by Rosie Copeland will appear in Now and Then: poems about generations, published October 2024.

2050

the sea will offer up more beads
than sand to future generations
our feet will crunch on them
as we lay our beach towels down
beside our snacks and drink bottle

we will bake on the plastic
melting under the sun
as malnourished seagulls
bellies full of plastic bags
feed on dwindled numbers of fish
awash with beads worn microscopic
by the ocean

the beads will pass, in seafood
that we haul and eat,
through our intestine wall
into our bloodstream
and collect around
our hearts
our plastic hearts

I’m a word-artist based in New Zealand. I’m currently writing a YA novel. I’ve completed writing papers
at the IIML and belong to several writing groups. I’m published in Mayhem, Reading Room, Tarot,
several anthologies, and in the USA. I’ve placed, been long-listed, or commended in several writing
competitions.

---

 

Two poems from My wide white bed, by Trish Harris

We’ve just reprinted this much-loved book, and here is a sample
that you can revisit, or discover for the first time.

​

Advice from the physio
Stop during the day
and remember to breathe.

At 1pm exactly we inflate
hover above our beds
and medical procedures
push out a breath so strong
we can sail home on it.               P44

​

Imagine if the hospital
employed a Marvin.
A monotone, pill-toting machine
who in less than 15 seconds
fires medication directly
into your mouth, offers you
a consoling phrase
(from a store of 1,005)
and pats your head with
plastic hands.

Imagine if the hospital
employed a Marvin
instead of a nurse
with her soft-timbred voice
who reaches across
the fear and says
We want to help you
get on top of your pain.               P10

---

 

Two poems in Spanish from Roll & Break.

Charles Olsen and Lilián Pallares (from National Poetry Day’s Given Words project) have translated these two poems from Roll & Break, by Adrienne Jansen (Landing Press 2022). There’s something beautiful about the way poems ‘sing’ in another language. They feel like a gift.

Travelling light

She is walking at the edge of the sea
on the wet shining sand.
The bright sky is behind her.
She is travelling
on a sheet of grey light.

We pass, and I wave.
She laughs, of course.
A woman who walks at the edge,
on light, would laugh.

 

Viaje de luz

Anda en la orilla del mar

sobre la arena mojada brillante.
El cielo luminoso detrás de ella.
Viaja sobre
una sábana de luz gris.

Nos cruzamos, y la saludo con la mano abierta.
Ella ríe, por supuesto.
Una mujer que camina en el filo,
sobre la luz, riera.

 

And the sea

There is sunrise.
Birds streaming across the gold sky.

I walk along this quiet beach.
Words are glint of luck,
chips of unreasonable happiness.

I need to walk in the freezing rain,
in the wild wind,
bare feet in the ice-cold waves.

I need to lie on the soft sand,
sun on my face,
and the small sweet rush of the water.

The sea connects us.
The fear, the void, the devastation
the wordless mystery
the aching beauty
the long tolling silence.

 

Y el mar

El amanecer está.
Aves vuelan por el cielo dorado.

Camino por esta playa tranquila.
Las palabras son destellos de suerte,
astillas de felicidad poco razonable.

Necesito caminar en la lluvia glacial,
en el viento salvaje,
descalza en las gélidas olas.

Necesito yacer sobre la arena suave,
el sol en mi rostro,
y el pequeño dulce correr del agua.

El mar nos conecta.
El miedo, el vacío, la devastación
el misterio no dicho
la belleza dolorida
el largo tañer del silencio.

​