loaves & fishes
lower-case because
not the biblical miracle
but the Anglican lunch bar
behind the cathedral
in Wellington in the 80s
where you selected your comestibles
and the good ladies of the parish
rang up the till
and dispensed coffee or tea
sometimes nearly all the staff
of the Correspondence School
were there queueing up
with writers and artists
and even occasional RC clergy
from the parallel concern down the road
I remember the cheaper
raw carrot and crackers-
and-cheese option
never so much
exponentially multiplied
as available in abundance
Drops
attention to detail
is a measure
of becoming older
now 20 Pansy needs
anti-thyroid ointment
in an ear each morning
also a steroid eye drop
to reduce inflammation
to say nothing
of her special diet
hot water bottle and
earth box for the night
all of these aids
to enduring feline
geriatric life appear
naturally delegated
to my responsibility
as a fellow pilgrim
through this late
not entirely disagreeable
phase of being
who once held her
in the palm of a hand
when she was new
Perimeter
every day with reasonable weather
our neighbour Val
pushes Gemma her Pomeranian
around the block in a pushchair
Gemma is about eleven now
on medication for cancer
and needs to wear dark goggles outside
to protect her eyesight
when we pass their house on foot
she is often vigorous and vocal
but there are also days
we don’t catch sight of her
the pushchair is of an older style
and has obviously transported decades
even generations of human
members of the family
Val’s granddaughter who is a friend of ours
believes the old lady wouldn’t long
survive anything happening to Gemma
her only companion
for now they define their perimeter
Val by sight and memory and Gemma
by sound and smell and the feel of wheels
on the not always even footpath
Tony Beyer writes inTaranaki, New Zealand. Recent work has appeared online in Hamilton Stone Review, Mudlark, Offcourse and Otoliths. Print titles include Anchor Stone (2017) and Friday Prayers (2019), both from Cold Hub Press.