RAChel lockwood
shirley
Shirley says to put my Easter bunny in the post,
Says to tell my Mum I want it sent in the overnight express.
Shirley used to have a rider’s bottom but now she feels the curve of the bath,
And the places where the caulk lifts.
She draws the water deeper,
Shirley and her hard round back.
Shirley, please leave this cold bus stop,
Leave your heavy grocery bags behind,
Shirley talks to girls like me at the bus stop about the weather.
It was windy, but clear,
It was cold, and we were thinking about chocolate.
We were rugged up, Shirley, but still shivered a little.
Before the big green bus turned the corner, and turned away again,
I turned to look at you Shirley, and then I turned away again,
I was thinking about all my dead grandmothers,
And the alive one too.
Shirley, your windbreaker puffs you up as big as the sun,
And I love you for the whole time it takes the bus to get here.
Rachel Lockwood is a Hawke’s Bay gal teaching in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. She has been previously published in Starling, Mayhem, Overcom, and the 2022 Poetry NZ Yearbook, among others.