PAULA HARRIS

if you have ever had a delayed flight which has meant you've had to run along the painted green line between the Auckland domestic airport terminal and the Auckland international airport terminal — or vice versa — feeling like your legs aren't your own because they can barely function after you've been seated on a flight for somewhere between one hour and fourteen hours, while the wheels on your suitcase(s) struggle to keep up with your pace and the terrain ...

... know that I'm running towards you

and I run run run run run run run run through the night and why
isn't this bit better lit I can't quite see the green line is the turn-y bit
here I think I turn here oh no that wasn't the turn-y bit okay okay I'll
just climb over this low chain fence and it'll be fine run run run run
run

and I run run run run run run run run why won't these people move
to one side and let me past argh it must be lovely not to be stressed
about missing your flight you bastards here I go swerving around you
run run run run run

and I run run run run run run run run through this berry-scented
vape cloud surrounding the rest area run run run run run

and I run run run run run run run run past all the car rental places
run run run run run

and I run run run run run run run run through the rain because it's
Auckland so there's usually rain and have they used some kind of
anti-slip coating on this pathway because surely I'm not the only
person who's had to run this and these shoes don't have good grip
and shit no it's a bit slippery I'm fine I'm fine let's just go a little bit
slower fast walk fast walk fast walk fast walk fast walk

and I run run run run run run run run through a summer's day and
why is Auckland so fucking humid I'm wearing too many clothes
should I stop for a second to take off this shirt how long will it take
me to take off this shirt can I afford to lose that bit of time fuck no
gotta keep going because my flight is due to leave in twelve minutes
run run run run run

and I run run run run run run run run through every movie scene
where one of the main characters has realised they can't live without
your love and they're about to miss their last possible chance to tell
you that and to be happy and so we all, all us movie characters, all of
us afraid to be loveless for the rest of our lives, all of us afraid we're
about to miss our one chance, we all run run run run run

Paula Harris (1973-2023) lived in Palmerston North, Aotearoa, and she was extremely fond of dark chocolate, shoes, and hoarding fabric. She won the 2018 Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize and the 2017 Lilian Ida Smith Award, and she was a semi-finalist for the 2020 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize. She was the recipient of a Vermont Studio Center writing residency in 2018.

Her poetry has been published in various journals, including Passages North, Barren, New Ohio Review, SWWIM, Gulf Coast, The Spinoff, Poetry New Zealand Yearbook, and Aotearotica. Her essays have been published in The Sun, Passages North, The Spinoff, and Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2018).

​Poem source details >

 

Links

Paula Harris's website

 

Photographer credit: Tabitha Arthur