Ocean Jade
I chase the tail of time in dog-deep delirium
tonguing at mementos all too familiar
I say wait and the resonance rejects with a
dance around my room pathetic alphabet elastic
these gums of rubber; these guns of wet-weighted ricochet
I say sit and the letters cluster into a
fleshy remnant of language
endocarp centered in my throat
like a stone eroding along the strung-out slobber of some mean god
weather me into a smooth object, into warm worship,
divine river of mine
rough me up, round me out, rush the tide
in my abstracts, time is a hand: a fist, a pointed finger, a tug,
but most often, a shove into some blurry depth
then downward drift
then bursts of intimate yesterday’s
then the realisation that these seconds are tangible before me,
a sensation between silt and silk, reeking of rancid oil
as the minutes slick over me, I shut my eyes to search for
something unrealised, something eventual
and all I find is a room,
empty and unknowable
as t
Ocean Jade is a fourth-year student from the U.S. based in Ōtepoti. She has words in Poetry NZ Yearbook, NZPS, Re-Draft, ODT Extra!, Tarot, Free Body Problem, Minor Gospel, and hosts the Virtuality podcast on OARFM. She’s into cyborgs, cryptic poetry, and lunch wraps.