vanessa crofskey
‘something in the water’ by brooke fraser
A hot girl walks away from an explosion
The hot girl is Brooke Fraser, who lived in Naenae before me
I love that she lived in Naenae
It makes me proud of my cultural Lower Hutt heritage
The explosion is a metaphor for the floods we’ve all been dreading
And are somewhat relieved to finally be dealing with
I choose to doggy paddle to Brooke
because I cannot walk on water
Brooke Fraser cradles me with tuneful and pensive pop music
that sounds like birdsong across the Hutt Valley
We are hiding out in the Olympic Pool
The best place to be when the world ends
floating on a pool noodle
I swam to Brooke because I did not have the contact details
for Bic Runga. Dave Dobbyn..... was unavailable
I’m not going to allow myself regrets for not getting to a hydroslide first
or missing my chance to die sweetly beside a national elegy
Japan had taken Hayley Westenra
Lorde was in New York
so I came to Brooke, as others did
to usher us out of here
Brooke managed to sing sweetly above the splashing
about Nokia ringtones and pearl earrings
Fictional Titanic diamonds
The glittery eyelid shimmer of the sea
It was a good impromptu concert, given the situation
I would have cried but there was too much moisture already
Vanessa Crofskey is an artist and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She is a staff writer for The Pantograph Punch and has a collection of poetry out in AUP New Poets 6.