woa poetry
We have some amazing poets in New Zealand and nothing is more powerful that the written word. Here we offer a chance to read the poems you have heard on woa.
Local poet, Helen Lowe, will be talking to Canterbury poets, on the first Sat in the month.

Siobhan Harvey: A poet, writer, and literary journalist and reviewer, Siobhan Harvey has been extensively published and anthologised in New Zealand and overseas and has also had two collections of poetry published in her native UK  The most recent of her extensive achievements include editing the poetry anthology, Our Own Kind: 100 New Zealand Poems About Animals, for Random House New Zealand (April 2009)—and she is also the newly appointed poetry editor for Takahe, one of New Zealand's longest established literary journals, which is based right here in Christchurch. Siobhan talks with Helen Lowe about taking on the Takehe role, her vision for poetry, and the process of getting Our Own Kind into print. 

Tooth

Today, you’re twelve teeth old,
and we fossick for shells,
star-fish, pipi and paua

until the tide goes out
when we wave goodbye
to yachts moored in the marina.

At home, you float
across polished floors
until you to keel over.

Your jaw leaves an alveolus
in the matai deep enough
for a tear-drop’s caress.

As I stroke you,
your eyes collect water;
your gums are an ocean of blood.

But only when you’re sleeping,
do I discover a tooth
anchored to blue woollen blanket.

Suddenly, you’re eleven teeth old
and have grown, like Lazarus,
younger beneath moonlight.

White and hull-shaped,
the tooth’s a boat,
isolated by low tide.

In the morning,
I’ll show you how it can rest
safely upon its starboard.  

© Siobhan Harvey

(First Published in Swings and Roundabouts, ed. Emma Neale, Godwit, 2008)

Bernadette Hall is one of NZ's best known poets, with achievements that range from publication of a number of critically acclaimed collections, having poems regularly featured in the Victoria University's annual selection of Best New Zealand poems-- including Leda at the Billabong for 2008--holding the 2007 Rathcoola Residency in Donoughmnore, County Cork, and most recently being inducted into the Scottish Poetry Library's gallery of New Zealand poets.   Along with these achievements, Bernadette Hall, together with fellow writer Fiona Farrell, and Institute director, Morrin Rout, co-founded the Hagley Writers' Institute  in 2008.  This Saturday, Helen will talk with Bernadette about what motivated her to co-found the Institute and what she hopes it will achieve for New Zealand poetry--as well as touching on recent achievements and forthcoming projects in Bernadette's illustrious career.

The Mapmaker
for Thomas McCarthy

When he drew his careful map
and marked in the river, the rising land
around it, the orchard,
the little stone cottages, the shebeen,
the grand Parochial House,
for all his artistry and his good company,
they broke his head open with an axe.

It wasn’t only the old language
they were hiding in the hedgerows
but Greek and Latin. The old women
who couldn’t read anything,
tied rags and rosary beads and
little scraps of ribbon to hawthorn twigs.

A text might be a scrap of lace
and worked into that the flowers,
the swirls of rain, the little house martins,
the buds and seeds, the sacred symbols,
the Jesuit hung and drawn
and quartered, each village with its heroes,
each village with its uprising.

Tuck Ireland into the coast of Cornwall
or under Northumbria’s wing,
swap it with Wales,
tow it into the beautiful Hokianga.

Break open the secrets,
give us the name of the woman
in green velvet, riding high on her horse
at Enniscorthy, the traitor,
the darling of the Imperial troops,
the one who betrayed the men
out working in the field, who led the killers
to them in spite of the amnesty.

(c) Bernadette Hall

'The Mapmaker' is included in Bernadette's new book, 'The Lustre Jug' to be launched  August 3 as part of the Christchurch Arts Festival.

On 29 March, the Airing Cupboard Women Poets celebrate their 20th year in Christchurch and Judith Walsh has been a member of the group since the mid 1990s --close to 15 of its 20 year history--and its convenor since 2003. Judith is also a founding member of the Small White Teapot Haiku Group (2000) and has been treasurer of the Canterbury Poets' Collective since 2001.  Helen Lowe will talk with Judith about her experience of and commitment to the Christchurch poetry scene and some of the poetic highlights of the past fifteen years--as well as the forthcoming 20th anniversary celebrations for Airing Cupboard, including the launch of Splash, their 20th anniversary anthology, at 3pm on Sunday 29th March at Eliza’s Manor (82 Bealey Avenue, Christchurch).
 

Poem:

My mother
slim in tweed skirt
cinnamon twinset
and a string of amber beads
leans against a low brown wall.
No matter that the photo is in sepia,
I remember
ecru gloves, beige blouses
mushroom cardigans, taupe suits.
Sometimes she favoured
butterscotch, camel or russet,
and always a pair of khaki cords
just for the farm.

No-one ever questioned
if the colour suited —
maybe she saw the framework
    rock
        trunk

            branches . . .


© Judith Walsh.

The Kathleen Grattan Award, administered by Otago University Press's Landfall literary journal, is New Zealand's newest and richest poetry prize--and in 2008 the inaugural award was made to Christchurch poet, Joanna Preston, for her manuscript The Summer King. Although she already had a solid list of poetic achievements to her credit, winning the Kathleen Grattan award has catapulted Joanna into the top rank of New Zealand poets and The Summer King --her first collection-- will be published by Otago University Press later this year. In her first interview for 2009, Helen Lowe will talk with Joanna about winning the award and where to from here with her poetry career.

The Summer King

Before the boar stops twitching
Dad and Jeff slash his throat.
Blood on autumn grass –
a torrent of curses
gush from his new-made mouth.

The iron bathtub broods in the flames,
its belly of water ripening.
We slide the boar in,
glide the razor’s bright tongue
across his skin.

He hangs by his heels
from the gambrel, like a pale flag.
Dad slits him open, balls to neck
and omens spill out
in dark coils of gut.

The hand that feeds,
the bullet, the knife –
I am learning their language.

(c) Joanna Preston

The Summer King is the title poem in Joanna Preston's forthcoming collection from Otago University Press--the same collection that won the inaugural Kathleen Grattan Award in 2008. The Summer King was also commended in the UK's prestigious Arvon poetry competition in 2004