Louise Wallace

crave

weak and irritable       the self flickers       time      
 
is like a heaviness on your chest       you crave
but each moment       disappears      
 
before you can hold it       you yearn      
for night       to head off      
 
into it       to occupy       a bed alone

---

Louise Wallace is the author of three collections of poetry published by Te Herenga Waka University Press, New Zealand, with her next book, THIS IS A STORY ABOUT YOUR MOTHER, forthcoming in May 2023. She is the founder and editor of Starling, an online journal for young New Zealand writers.