Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Three November-December 2024
Aotearoa Poets and Writers Special Edition
Spell it backwards, poem by Ivy Alvarez.
Spell it backwards
You hear the Porsche gunning against the green light, and irritation,
crinkles your brows, and your stance, relaxed, tenses up. Tires lay black
rubber in extravagant cursive, an infernal wedding invitation perhaps.
Licence plate NUR5321. But no, here’s the car’s bonnet pinning your
hips against the traffic pole, obscene lover, everyone can see. Count it
down. Ah, it doesn’t seem to matter now. The choice is gone. Taken in a
manifold instant. No more needing money to pay the rent, o dwindling
budget for necessities, thy joys deleted from thine bucket list. For ‘twas
here the bucket stood, underfoot, and someone kicked it for you. Time
to rest. Let’s give thanks. Hallelujah.
© Ivy Alvarez
Ivy Alvarez is the author of The Everyday English Dictionary (London: Paekakariki Press, 2016), Disturbance (Wales: Seren, 2013), and Mortal. Her latest poetry collection is Diaspora: Volume L (Paloma Press, 2019). A five-time Pushcart Prize nominee for poetry and fiction, her work is widely published and anthologised, including appearances in Best Australian Poems (2009, and 2013). Several of her poems are translated into Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Filipino. Born in the Philippines, she has lived in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and New Zealand, before returning to Australia in 2024. www.ivyalvarez.com