Forgive me if I seemed brusque at the airport,

these churches to farewell

are not where I choose to worship

and saying goodbye is like sheathing a sword,

the danger is not over until it’s out of sight.


You’re an introspective man, covert with your passion,

but I suspect you were as glad to see us

as we were to see you.

It’s been said that you are a perfect foil

to my extroversion,

we are a sort of Laurel and Hardy of the emotional spectrum.


One of the perils of transience

is the absence of solid friendship

so that we sometimes become

like wings without a body.

Having a friend arrive on our doorstep

is to find something we did not realise

we had lost.


A holidaymaker is as bright in the workaday world

as a mint coin on sunlit concrete

so that our biggest concern

was to polish your days

to the consistency of your previous excitement.

We are rusty entertainers at best.


One of life’s more pleasant surprises

is that we never know how or where

we will forge a friendship.

Friendships forged in the workplace

can be the most enduring

because there is no mandate to like our workmates.


For a few, too short days

you brought back for me all that was good

about my life in Auckland

and I can ask a friend for no greater gift

than to reflect a little sunlight.

Things were so much less complicated when we were little, but now I feel like I don't even know you anymore.

i saw a friend from middle school tonight
he looked different, his pants were so tight and he talked different

i wish that i'd said hi
i wish that i'd hurdled over my pride
but we were both too afraid to say anything

and it was in that moment that i realized
that neither of us have changed since 9th grade year
it was an awkward silence that has followed us since our awkward stage as teenagers
(and now im 21)

every inch of this town holds a memory I don't want to remember.
every single ******* memory was with you.
we danced in my front yard
went swimming in the lake
ran through the forests together
walked all around our neighbor hoods
I talk about you like you were my lover
but you were more than that
you were my best friend
we spent every waking moment together that we could
you lived only a walk away
and now you hate me
you hate me because I ruin everything I touch
every friendship I have rots to hell
I want you back in my life but you won't have me
come back
please
come back