egg plus frog

flash: Whenua

Whenua There were three of us already planted in the backyard: Wiremu, Mataī, and me.  ‘Why am I the smallest?’ I ask Mama, looking at my tree. ‘Because you were the youngest, Aroha. Don’t you worry, you’ll grow in time.’ She pushes my hair away from my eyes, and smiles. But not like she used

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Poetry. Cotquean, by Christopher Jones. Image: a pair of boxing gloves suspended from a knitting needle and thread. In the gloves, the silhouette of a man and his son.

poetry: Cotquean

Cotquean I’m sewing up tears in my boxing gear: a needle, black thread and bachelor stitches. I’m cross-legged on the bathroom floor while Pharaoh splashes in the tub beside me, a pink and laughing treasure two years long. I ran his bath, undressed his happy body. Now I wash his hair, speak quietly through the

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Inspirathlon 2024

Inspirations & results Quick Links: Rules Round 1 – inspiration Round 1 – results Round 2 – inspiration Welcome to Inspirathlon 2024! This is the main page for our competition. Everything you’ll need to take part is here: competition information, Inspirations and round results. We’ll be keeping this page updated throughout the competition, so be sure

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Fiction. Ice Cream, by Harry Dobbs. Image: the silhouette of an ice cream with an American flag stuck in it. Inside the ice cream are silhouettes of a couple and three military jets.

fiction: Ice Cream

Ice Cream Reading time: about 10 minutes I turn and see Blake struggle up the pot-holed street. Directly above him, an old woman smokes on a balcony, her bare arms resting on its metal railing. Blake looks like a tourist. An American tourist. Which he is. Basketball vest, baggy shorts, battered trainers. A back-to-front baseball

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