ANN-MARIE KEATING lives in Mt Victoria, Wellington. Her day job involves working to secure royal gold, silver and unicorns. Her interests include writing, baby animals and playing her guitar.


       Marilyn

       Red dress so vivid
       Floats past her in the picture
       Robs her lips of colour
       It’s almost obscene

       She’s floating on a dark background
       Inky bath
       Obscured by bits of plants
       I feel like a voyeur


       A walk in the park

       A balloon joyously escaping
       A vanishing, crying child

       A waggy bean of a dog

       These gardens were planted for us
       I am talking
       Always talking
       While you do all the listening

       It could have been a beautiful day
       I begin to cry
       And the world goes all Monet

       We walk home and
       Blind stars
       Like deep sea fishes’
       Milky eyes
       Pour over us
       Unseeing