American Sentences, New Zealand Lens

Mary Cresswell

Sheep surround the airplane door—howdoyoulikeus?
 howdoyoulikeus?
The urban myth: Ladies a plate, they said, and she
 actually brought one.
I spent three hours in Los Angeles. I know all about
 your country.
Howlonghaveyoubeenherehowdoyoulikeithowlonghave
 youbeenhow?
We make our own rules. That’s why we need so much
 Number 8 fencing wire.
Clean, green and a good place to raise children. Don’t
 say what you really think.
What do you mean “insular”? If you don’t like us, you
 can always leave.
Now that you’re old and we’ve sucked you dry, when
 are you going to go back home?
No more Miss Liberty, no more Golden Gate—
 only the Southern Cross.


Mary Cresswell is from Los Angeles and lives on New Zealand's Kapiti Coast. Her fourth book, Fish Stories (2015, Canterbury University Press), is a collection of ghazals and ecopoems.

What do you think?

*

css.php