Make Sure

Make sure you fall in love with a man who you know will survive in the bush. This way, when he is three nights overdue from his trip and the search and rescue team is out looking for him and the helicopter has been called back because the weather is closing in and they’re interviewing you on television in a close-up camera shot, asking you what you think his chances are — hoping you will cry and your lip will tremble – you can look them straight in the eye and say you know he will be all right, he has had plenty of experience and he knows what to do, he was carrying plenty of food and warm clothing and he is strong. Even if he is hurt, you know he will be all right. He’s a fighter, you’ll say. He won’t give in. But the weather is closing in, you must be worried, they’ll ask. You keep your resolve. He will be all right, you say. I know he will.

by Jenny Bornholdt

the vocabulary used makes me realize it’s in New Zealand because they use the words like bush and Search and rescue and ‘he’s a fighter’. For the sentence structure, the poet has used difference sentence lengths to break up the listing of words. The story is told from a third-person view, it is also quite informal. the poem tells us what qualities someone should find in a typical New Zealand man so that you don’t have to worry when he gets lost in the bush.