ALISDAIR ARMSTRONG
Sitting in a blast crater
I sit at the bottom of the blast crater in a puddle and think that it’s pretty possible that I’ve made some mistakes. After all, you don’t wind up in a puddle at the bottom of a crater without having messed up somewhere along the line.
Sitting wetly in introspection instead of getting out and moving on with my life is possibly indicative of the kind of attitude that landed me here in the first place. All the same, this seems as good a time as any for some self-analysis.
I introspect for a while.
Eventually Jamie arrives. He asks me what I’m doing in the blast crater, and I tell him I’m introspecting. He asks to join me. ‘It’s a free crater,’ I reply. He comes and lies down in the puddle next to me. Jamie is full of these acts of solidarity.
A bit after that, Oliver shows up as well. I suspected he might. He asks me and Jamie what we’re doing.
We’re lying down in this crater, we tell him.
He asks why we haven’t gotten out.
We tell him we’re introspecting.
Oliver tells us that lying there introspecting instead of getting out of the crater is indicative of the kind of bad attitude that leads to people winding up in craters in the first place, and I think he makes a pretty good point.
This is Alisdair Armstrong’s first published poem. He lives and studies in Wellington, but is abroad for most of 2020 in order to spend more time rock climbing.
Armstrong comments: ‘“Sitting in a Blast Crater” arose out the conversations I would have with my two friends over a Facebook group chat, where we would often improvise short creative skits or narratives. These conversations ranged from an absurd obsession with yams to in depth analysis on pop songs. “Blast Crater” was an attempt to capture the emotional support that my friends gave me in difficult times, even when it came in unconventional ways.’
Photographer credit: Jamie Owers