CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Visit waxpoetryart.com to explore poetry
(including haiku
and spoken word),
visual art,
photography,
play,
and fiction
submission opportunities.
Experience the thrills of the Weekly Poems Contest.
--
January 15th, 2026
New Zealand Poetry Contest #1 – First Place
by Theresa Shaw
Affection has always lived here,
like wallpaper, unnoticed until torn.
But some days, one note clatters off-pitch,
its sound slicing the air like chalk shrieking
down a blackboard no one writes on.
We are used to warmth, cups passed across
the table, laughter like bread torn open,
yet when voices rise, the air becomes
a glass of water filled with grit,
grinding between our teeth with every sip.
The hurt is not thunder, not lightning,
it is subtler – the wrong word echoing
like a fork dragged across porcelain,
a reminder that closeness means
we always know where to press hardest.
Still, when silence follows,
it is thick as unwashed wool,
itching against skin we cannot shed.
And beneath it all, though it flays,
though it fractures, we know
we ache because we care.
About the Poet
Theresa Shaw resides in Wellington, North Island, New Zealand.
Read the poet's biography and Wax Poetry and Art Publications
on Theresa Shaw's Artist Page.
This poem is collected in Poetry World #14, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Keywords: family tension, conflict, love, emotional intimacy, affection, hurt
Previously published in New Zealand Poetry Magazine:
Food for Thought
by Susan Howard
New Zealand Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
- Visit the main Wax Poetry and Art Submissions Page to see all opportunities.
- Visit the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
- This website and all contents ©Kirk Ramdath and specified artists.
- AI Training it not permitted on this website.
(Advertisements)