rachel lockwood
bish
oh you peach-pit witch, you salt-water Sally, you not-a-fan of seafood chowder,
diamond skipping on the water, gel pen loving gal. You never
go with the flow woman, you coal seam in lime quarry, you
no teddy bear in window, hyphenated caffeinated underrated on purpose animal.
You mango-slicer, salt-sprinkler, timed-watering, irrigating
responsibly queen. Girl, you burp on a first date
shaved head, stone-fruit metaphor, you singular red curly pubic hair, you
pelvic bone sticking out, cheating on Weight Watchers with Indian food, you, you,
you Barbie and the Swan Lake, you My Little Pony hater,
I am on to you.
You sneak around at 8pm, you hoarder of avocado pits, you duvet shredder, you Aries rising,
you going to the pool just for the manus, you, girl,
you pencil case with three highlighters one pen one pencil sharpener zero pencils,
I love you, girl.
Like an extant copy of an ancient text, like a carving of a vicious goddess,
I love you madly, and your nose stud, love like anti-chicken soup for the soul,
like furniture I did not pick for myself like no pepper in the scrambled eggs, you
girl, I love you, girl, you
teacup-smashing, no sewing skills, Adele-obsessed hag,
you melodramatic, you Melodrama by Lorde, you wiping the windscreen with a rag
because your demister doesn’t work anymore and your car sucks boy-racer wannabe,
you stall on the on-ramp, Call Me By Your Name reference, wood-block print artiste
love like going to maccas after a fancy dinner, like Beatrix Potter discovering algae in lichen, like
Instagram moodboards about Lemony Snickett,
I love you, lady, like I’ve loved every woman in my life
which is to say, with a ferocity I have yet to replicate, and a
fatal need to identify with Lady Macbeth, which is to say
to do it better, which is to say
to love you for the bitch you are, and the bitch
that I also am, which is to say
I love you and I don’t think I’ll ever stop.
Rachel Lockwood is Hawke’s Bay born and bred, and lived in Wellington for, like, a month. She is a BA student at Victoria University. She was a finalist in the 2019 National Schools Poetry Award.