Hayden Hyams

Auckland, New Zealand

Hayden Hyams is from Aotearoa, New Zealand. His poetry can be found in The Poetry Zealand Yearbook, Bravado, Takahe, The Friday Poem , London Grip and Milly Magazine. Hayden is currently working on a new collection named Fragments.

Poem written 15^th May 2020

Yoko Ono.

There is a piece of sky, deconstructed by Yoko Ono, 

In the compartment of a repurposed printer’s shelf,

And a piece residing in a legal file,

At Simpson, Dowsett and Merrit.

One piece of sky keeps my cashola rolling in,

The other provides belief.

#2

Receiving a piece of sky from Yoko Ono,

Is an artistic, insta-ready, impersonal, 

Experience.

I received mine from an upturned soldier's helmet,

At a gallery in Sydney. 

Yoko was not even in the country.

The idea is; we come together, 

Sometime,

And work it out,

Us, Patrons of the arts, anyhow.

Everyone else, 

I don't know,

There’s a lot of them.

#3

The quality of mercy is not strained,

It droppeth as the gentle rain.

Upon the place beneath, it is twice blessed,

It blesses him that giveth and him that taketh.

Now, sign this affidavit.

Swear,

You have no recollection, of the whereabouts,

Of a  jigsaw,

A jigsaw worn down 

To a buttery nub, 

Can’t even cut the loose ends of a rainbow.

Failure to sign,

Will result in, all honesty, 

Fuck all.

We may change your signature, 

Issue you a stammer,

Change the odd opinion.

Trivial things,

Nothing to worry about.

No need to tell them I said so.