S  e  c  r  e  t  s    blackmail press 24
Jenny Clay
New Zealand

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Jenny Clay has had poetry published in Takahe, New Zealand Poetry Society and Poetry Live anthologies, in Poetry Pudding, a book of poetry for children, and also on the ezines Southern Ocean Review and issue 13 of Blackmail Press. In 2005 she launched a book of poetry ‘Take a Leap’ at Auckland’s Poetry Live.
Secrets

The taste of
gooseberries
from a filigree case,
pomegranate seeds
from deep
in the fruit.

Touching the sea
of secrets
the anemone
closes tightly
on itself.

The secret
of the torturer
is to escalate

fears developing
in the darkroom.

Secrets smell of
rotting apples
secrets smell
of frankincense.

The secret
of light scones
is to let
the air in.

Secrets hover over
family trees
conceal stray
branches.

The secret to tame
a cave weta
is to gently
rub his belly.

When you taste a secret
the prickles
may jab
at your tongue.

Secrets stick
between your teeth

break
when you pick
at them.






Bastion

you look out
from your burnt face
to the harbour

a passenger ferry
makes its way in
a cargo ship slips
past Devonport
going out

wet paspallum by
concrete bunkers

defended the point
from invaders

from evaders

Danger Keep Out
No Entry

in the underground
bunkers
graffiti grapples
Hate exact Neva

above the flax rubs
its leaves together
whispering ssecrets





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