Sport 17: Spring 1996
Janet Frame's House
Janet Frame's House
There's a pool table
she plans to exchange
for a desk
of the same size.
At the back are pines
and a tidal creek
with mangroves
and crabs.
Downstream
from the racecourse
a traffic bridge
rushes and whispers.
Needled grass
under the pines
remembers
summer picnics.
At full tide she says
if she had a dinghy
she could row across
for the shopping.
Indoors again
I take down a cue
from its wall-clip
and pot the black.
I too would like
such a vast desk
but secretly wish
she would keep the table.