Friday, fractured
The barber tilts your head like a question
you didn't know you were asking.
Chrome catches a face you almost recognise.
Three hours in a room where someone says
"going forward" and time actually doesβ
lurches, staggers, compresses to a point
then stretches like taffy pulled
between two fists.
At the shop your son holds up a cucumber
the way knights hold swords,
the way scientists hold beakers to light,
the way anyone holds proof
that they were sent for one thing
and came back victorious.
You buy milk for tomorrow's people.
The list in your pocket is already archaeology.
Clouds at forty percent means
the sky can't commit either,
which is the most Wellington thingβ
light through gaps, gaps through light,
the whole city a window
left ajar.