Jackson Mccarthy
Still life at sunset
And I remember you coming
like rain, to visit me —
and though I didn’t know it yet,
it was so much like the last time,
at the tail end of knowing
the boy I thought you were.
Now my voice passes through,
looking for someone more interesting
to talk to, looking for where you end
and I begin. When I’m gone, I’m going to find him,
the boy I was — if he saw you coming
backwards, through youth, to meet me.
And if, when I’m gone, you still think of me —
do I go on leaving you each time, as a vision.
Jackson McCarthy is a poet and musician from Auckland currently studying in Wellington. He is of mixed Māori and Lebanese descent. He was a finalist for the Schools Poetry Award 2021, and was one of the Starling micro-residents at the New Zealand Young Writers Festival 2023. You can read more of his work here.