For a new technician by Sarah Jane Barnett

The room is isolated by a grey curtain.
There is a red telephone in the corner

and a heart monitor. The chair looks
like a La-Z-boy or the seat an astronaut

would be strapped into, ready for blast off.

The public crowd around the rocket,
well out of range behind a one-way screen,

anxious and stern. The rumble in the walls
crawls inside their stomachs. They wonder

if they will see a light so bright it burns
coral in the clouds? Will they have to look

away? The astronaut mouths, Don’t watch
mama. I’m sorry I’ve been such a lazy boy.

By Sarah Jane Barnett. Published in Enamel 2010.
Used with the permission of the poet.

Sarah Jane Barnett is a writer who lives in Wellington. Her work has appeared in a range of literary journals such as Landfall, Sport and The New Zealand Listener, and on the e-zines Snorkel and Turbine.

Her poem, The Drop Distance, was selected for Best New Zealand Poems 2007. She is currently completing a creative PhD in ecopoetics. You can find out more about her on her website.