Two Poems by Devon Webb

Photo by Liam Truong on Unsplash

Oh! Darling

Listen to Devon reading her poem:

Oh! darling 
you are the full-throttled sound of my vacancy 
of my pulling away from the party 
there was a pocket of silence & we missed it 
or we found it 
but just sat in it 
we sat so still & so silly 
silly me not saying a word 
now I have too many words 
stuck to my fingers like postage stamps
like the process 
of every love letter I never sent 
just wrote & wrote in my head 
in my bed at night tucked 
into a dream 

---

My Devoted Solitude

Listen to Devon reading her poem:

Memories & hopes & delusions. Where is the line.
Have I crossed it or are those the stars keeping us entwined.
Keeping me tucked into the dream of you
the limerence within which I heal.

I know it’s ironic. My devoted solitude.
You are the green light across the water
which gives me something to stay fixed on
to watch with the most glittering eye.

But what if it goes dark. What if I can’t keep you.
What if I am not entitled to your time & you
the most oblivious boy in Wellington
you the cutting jewel.

The burning bright star. The fire.
The arson on my attachment to this city
the insistent heat & I at your hearth
shedding ashes.

I’m sorry if I make a mess on your threshold.
Forgive me my heart sweating on your upholstery
I know you are just a boy but you are also
my metaphor.

I lost a lot but never my poetry. My most unrelenting abundance.
In my head I know I should love less the things
that do not belong to me but if there’s a line
I will skirt it

my one little act of bravery.

---

Devon Webb is a Gen Z writer & editor based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her award-winning work, concerning themes of femininity, anticapitalism & neurodivergence, has been published extensively worldwide. She is a founding member of The Circus, a literary collective prioritising radical inclusivity in the indie lit scene. She can be found on social media at @devonwebbnz.