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Harvey Molloy
New Zealand

Enigmatic blue on a weekly basis Andy Leleisi'uao
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Enigmatic blue on a weekly basis - Andy Leleisi'uao
Harvey Molloy lives in Wellington where he teaches at Newlands College. His poems have appeared in Albatross, Blackmail Press 17, Bravado, Jaam, NZ Listener, Poetry New Zealand, Southern Ocean Review and Takahe. His first book of poems, Moonshot, was published by Steele Roberts in September 2008.

A Midsummer forest

After the meeting
I ran into the forest

but Tony texted from The Agency
the Big Man wants me to give him a call.

Strange how sleepy you feel
away from the city

& there’s all sorts
going on under the pines

what’s the local repertory theatre doing
shooting digital video?

Thoughts twist
like bindweed strangling roses—

does my twin ever dream
of my fiancé’s sister?

I’ve read his letters
but have I read them correctly?

The wood bees courier yellow parcels
to the night-scented stock

& the purple lupins
hold half-thimbles of morning rain

should I wish to bathe my eyes.





The Goodbyes

Now the questions have begun
you know that the goodbyes

are going to be difficult.
What do you tell the kids

about where you will be going
when where you‘ll be going

isn't a place at all but is simply
out of their lives, out of the picture?

There's no question of reunion
& they wouldn't believe any bullshit

about coming back as a dog or
cruising azure highways together.

So you drive to the coast
ask them to close their eyes & listen

to the late summer waves on the wet sand
the calls of children across the water.

You tell them not to worry
the incoming tide will have the last word

the incoming tide always does.




Courtship & Marriage

1

Your father wants you
back by midnight

but first
a little Hindi

down the ghetto blaster's mike
before we get out of bed

let me give you a backrub
I'll walk you home . . .

now again in Hindi
now in English.

2

After three weeks
in Yogesh Uncle's house in Delhi

we found one morning
chai, masala omelet,

The Hindustan Times,
a filigree necklace & chain

cast in the finest gold
by the best Sikh jewelers

in Tilak Nagar
placed on a silver leaf tray.

3

To appease Auntie
we placed all our money

on an outside horse
picked by an astrologer

in Lucknow
who'd been at the Chivas.

4

Married we opted
for proportional representation

over first past the post
as a way of arranging

the lounge furniture
now nothing stays

long enough in one spot
to imprint the carpet

& we don't buy new
but here's the good news

the horse came in.