Wife
She has become impervious to my attempts at beautiful words.
The only absolute faith we have is doubt.
I am remending myself, rebalming the wounds.
The photographs are relevant. I can see myself smile.
I’m starting to wonder if my intelligence isn’t artificial.
Firstly, can I let someone else care?
All right. She hushed the room again.
Our otherness is relentlessly present.
But we move as if no one could know us better.
We speak as if there’s not much left to say.
We fight as if there’s something to fight for.
It would be nonsense to try to explain.
That’s the truth of us.
This quicksand. The tree branch you offer me.
Daniel Larsen-Barr was born in Tamaki Makarau. He has held poetry workshops at Toi Ora Live Arts Trust for over 10 years. He was a member of the performance poetry group The Literatti.
