Chess Peace

He taught me how to play chess 

On those awkward visits from Māngere East 

I’d bus to Karangahape Road alone 

with a book 

and the orange transistor radio he gave me 

past the strip clubs near George Court’s 

The man in charge of the lift said 

going up and going down 

like a game 

He lived in the council flats 

near the fire station in the city 

I would dawdle outside the pet shop 

near Myers Park 

You played that one game with him 

and I don’t remember who won 

He asked me 

to buy you a proper chess set 

and I got a plastic one 

So he gave you his own 

He was in Papatoetoe by then 

with a bathroom he had done up himself 

He did the same in London for us 

before we came out here 

Made sure there was a toilet inside 

because that mattered to him 

He’d say 

make sure you don’t use that lift 

the one that smelled 

come up the stairs on this side

He had a fish tank 

and a warm fireplace 

I remembered he liked fish 

He brought three goldfish once 

in a plastic bag 

As we left 

I turned to face him 

I said 

you did the best you could 

considering 

He rubbed his hands together 

and said 

well well well 

Anne Hill is a New Zealand citizen on paper. She is very grateful for this. 

She wanted to be a poet from age 10, when she stole her first poem from a student at another school and had it published in the Kingsford Primary School bulletin. It had bits that rhymed, and was about burnt-out buildings in a war zone. Her sister promptly pulled her up on plagiarism. She is sorry for that, but in her defence, she was overwhelmed by all the real poets who seemed to have a magic pass into a more exacting and informed world where spelling and grammar and literary knowledge and publication were the basis of authenticity. It wasn't until she was included in Blackmail Press that she started to believe that poetry might be a deeper, compassionate and more forgiving art that has space for the less exalted who sing made-up songs and tell themselves stories when they are alone. Sometimes she paints her poetry now. Poetry remains the place where her Asian Irish self can breathe. 

She is 64 and lives in Auckland with a very good dog and a unique cat.

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