Monthly Archives: January 2011
High Country Weather: South Island Writing
Early Landfall is a strange beast. In its pages we find poems written about manuka bushes in Pleasant Point, long, boring letters from J-Force soldiers about their hopes for the fledgling publication, interminable poems by Keith Sinclair about wandering through hills, the (Landfall prize-winning) story of a single water molecule making its way around the Antarctic and through the digestive system of a Skua and numerous curmudgeonly editorials by Brasch bemoaning the teaching of English in New Zealand. Yet in its pages, too, we find some of Janet Frame’s first publications (under the pseudonym ‘Jan Godfrey’), we witness James K Baxter’s poetic explorations and experiments, as well as the inimitable ‘Poem in the Matukituki Valley’, and there is even an entire issue dedicated to Sargeson’s ‘I, for One’, a novella that marked a significant change in his prose style. Continue reading
Filed under Culture and Society, Literary Criticism
I danced among tussock
I danced, down among tussock, my eyes down, watching for Spaniards – who lie in wait, brandishing stilettos, though inquisitions of that precise sort have never yet reached these shores. The road kept its distance, and I enjoyed extreme heat, … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction
The Owl and the Pussycat
“The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea.” So begins a nonsense poem by Edward Lear. The poem goes on to describe more improbable happenings, culminating in the pair getting married. Nonsense indeed. Actually the nonsense begins with the third … Continue reading
Filed under Culture and Society
(Self-Indulgence:) The Other Ashburton
What follows below is a self-indulgent meditation on my schooling and upbringing, brought about by my temporary return to Ashburton. The last line of this post refers to a Brian Turner that was stuck on the wall of my Year … Continue reading
Filed under Culture and Society
Notes on a sore thumb
Sensate. That is what I ask of you, body. Sensate. And in return I arrange for you sensations. (September, and a chill wind when we’ve just begun to think of spring,Water stills, shakes itself in cloudy forms that drizzle still.Gigantic … Continue reading
Tuna
A dark, motionless shadow lay on the grey shingle bottom of the shallow stream. A shiver went down the spine of the boy. His torch was off. There was no light to create the shadow. He was a hunter. So … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction
You Can’t Spell ‘Snob’ Without ‘Nob’: Mince Pies and Ron Mueck
[Image 1: Deligbo on Flickr, shared via Creative Commons licence] Cattle and sheep have thrived across New Zealand since their introduction. The unfortunate kea, on the other hand, had a bounty upon its head for many years: it was too … Continue reading
Filed under Arts, Culture and Society
3 haiku
these are not strictly haiku. but see LMJ’s recent post http://keaandcattle.blogspot.com/2011/01/little-gods.html Poem One: A migrant in a foreign land Dappled sun of a New Zealand summer.Face upturned to fern and birch.Yielding peach tree holds fast your hammock. Holiday looms. A … Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
little gods
haikuis what i call “haiku”when i create it haiku is good (according to any given community)when everyone in that community who has experienced “haiku” & “good”thinks my haiku is “haiku” and “good” if there is disagreement in a communityabout what … Continue reading
The nth Commandment
The nth Commandment The artist notes: In the beginning I wasquite self-conscious as Idipped my fingerin my own blood This must be what itfeels like To write your dyingwordsAnd then I realisedNo Not at allThis is very wrong This is … Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
