Transom
Because the building contains the room and it is so hard
to reach the building. I must sit for an hour before I go
in as I have to be early, so early... because... because...
because, I don't know: missing the appointment? In
some way not being able to move my body to the
entrance with its blast of false heat to make the
occupants happy to come inside, to offer the
gingerbread and the oven. O I step over the transom
into the white fluorescence of the whale, its ribs
clenching as it breathes me along, to the lift, the corridor
of paint and aseptic smells that seem like a memory but
are a premonition.
Wes Lee
Wes Lee is a writer and poet who lives in Paekākāriki. Her collections include By the Lapels (2019), Body, Remember (2017), Shooting Gallery (2016), and Cowboy Genes (2014). Lee’s work has also been featured in a number of publications, including Best New Zealand Poems 2019, Australian Poetry Journal, Poetry New Zealand Yearbook, Landfall, New Writing Scotland, and the NZ Listener. She has also been the recipient of many awards, including the Poetry New Zealand Prize in 2019.
