Sooky La-La

POETRY | ISSUE TWELVE | NOSTALGIA

Written by Elise Sadlier (she/her) | @elise_sadlier | Contributing Writer

Illustrated by Nina Sipkes (she/her) | @teatimings | Contributing Artist

We can play at war

down by the dragonfly-bitten creek

wielding hockey-stick guns 

shooting planes from the sky with our minds

comb the kutus from our hair 

curling like pikopiko in the basin

drowning in tea tree and lye

Teach me nothing gentle

to leap from bridges, from rocks

to let the waves thrash us against the sand

to stash our bikes at Uncle’s 

balance our future on the handlebars 

But you’ll cry anyway

sooky sooky la-la

you’ll cry at scraped knees 

at a sharpened voice 

at a boy or two or twenty 

you’ll cry because you have to

else the tears corrode your soul

rust and eat your bones

because your body demands it 

The world lines up

shoulder to shoulder

yelling Bullrush

E tangiweto,

run like hell.

Break,

don’t cry.