By Devon Webb
Here I am jumping ship again
my life in New World tote bags in the rain
like drowning inside out
this street sits on faultlines
that’s why it’s so up high
like a metaphor for the way my
life split down the middle
& when everything shakes &
starts collapsing
all you can do is crouch in the doorway
until you can escape
out into the city
oh this city
with its charms & disillusionment
oh the way I keep losing
even as I win
oh the way my furniture is gone again
the way the city is so small
my traumas reoccur around the next corner
the way the hills feel so steep & I’m tired
I came here to get away but sometimes patterns chase you
sometimes you are too sweet for a city that eats its villains
sometimes you wish you were a stranger again
on the San Fran balcony all nameless & innocent
maybe I am the seismic event
maybe they follow me just to shake me awake
maybe I’ll alter the landscape everywhere I go
maybe it’s a fool’s errand to try & come home
maybe we are a bored lazy world
in need of disasters to rebuild
maybe the rain today is just washing away
all the crumbling foundations too weak to stay.
Devon Webb is a 25-year-old poet & writer based in Aotearoa. She writes full-time, exploring themes of femininity, intimacy & vulnerability. She shares her poetry online, through live performance, & has been widely published both locally & internationally. She is the two-time Wellington Slam Poetry Champion & is currently working on the final edits of her debut novel The Acid Mile. Her work can be found on Instagram, Twitter & TikTok at @devonwebbnz.
Hot Pot Magazine 