MARIANA ISARA recently finished an MA in Creative Writing at the The International Institute of Modern Letters.


       Mt Cook Café

       Heart of rain-
       storm water swirls
       leaves giddy plung-
       ing gutter mouth. What’s wrong
       with you? Blind alley jazz music,
       pin cushions, vacant seats.

       Your face flits the street
       corners me. Ode music. Silver stairs
       lead to where people are happy. Come
       on Ilene, Push pineapple shake the tree.
       There’s a rift in the riddle.
       There’s a cat on the road.

       There’s a rubber-band ping.
       No grave to dance on. No
       Slightly Open Clam Shell.
       Wet sparkling minerals.
       The night, perhaps, not quite,
       as perfect as your teeth.