sisters on sand
Dog and I go walking
beside the incoming tide
dog has been waiting for hours
It will do us both a world of good.
Waves leave salty frills
of lace edging on wet sand
the sea thrashes the rock wall
when the tide is high.
A trail of footprints follows
another disappears
toward dog-coloured tussock
beside the surf club.
Dog runs ahead
tail aloft
nose to turf
beyond the crest
of a dune.
I follow behind
And see my sister
away in the distance.
She is burning shoes
in the built-in barbeque
between and the toilet block
and the car park.
The shoes are stilettos
the curved sole is buckled and charred
sister stands upwind
from the stink of burnt plastic
Picnickers pack to leave
years flash like cue cards
dog and I head home
neither of us look back.
JM Lofley is a writer and instructional designer. Their work appears in classrooms and staffrooms throughout Aotearoa. They have also had poems and short stories published in Landfall, Rere Takitahi | Flying Solo, Kapohau | Turbine, 4th Floor Literary Journal, Headland, Shortz, Black Lantern, Takahē, Manifesto, Penguin Days, and Tidelines.
J M Lofley lives near the Otago coast and is obsessed with rimurimu | kelp as both Tangata Tiriti and descendant of the people from the North Atlantic coast.
