“I want to love you in analogue” by Paula Harris

I want to love you in analogue

I want the minutes we spend together
to be marked by the slow sweep of the hands on a watch
and when I want to, I’ll take out the battery so that time won’t count for anything anymore

I want to turn the dial on a phone and hear the clicks as our love connects
I’ll cradle the plastic handset against my cheek
loop my fingers through the coiled cord and my line will never be busy for you

I want to love you over the grooves of a 12 inch record, 33 1/3 rpm
moving from track to track, always in high fidelity
and then we can flip the disc because there’s always the other side to love you over too

I want to love you on radio, live on air, broadcasting 24 hours a day
turn the tuner til you find me, put on your headphones, turn off the lights
lay yourself down and I’ll lay down with you

I want to love you through the hiss and the pop
through the crackles and the hum, through the continuous up and down waves
because we all have background noise

I want to love you with pen and paper, and pencil and paper,
and crayon and paper, and charcoal and paper, and paint and paper
and I just want to love you

PAULA HARRIS

Paula Harris lives in Aotearoa/New Zealand, where she writes and sleeps in a lot because that's what depression makes you do. She won the 2018 Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize and the 2017 Lilian Ida Smith Award. Her writing has been published in various journals, including Hobart, Berfrois, The Rialto, Barren, SWWIM, Diode, Glass, Aotearotica and The Spinoff. She is extremely fond of dark chocolate, shoes, and hoarding fabric. website: www.paulaharris.co.nz |

It is our extreme misfortune to have to add the news to this post that Paula Harris passed away in 2023. We hope her work continues to serve in her memory.

Headshot: Tabitha Arthur

Photo Credit: Staff