Celebrating National Poetry Day

Today we're celebrating National Poetry Day — a day to recognise the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind. We’ve chosen a small selection of some of our favourite poems from New Zealand authors to share with you on this momentous day, to remind us all of the talent we have here in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

From This Change in the Light by Fiona Kidman

HEY YOU

When I stand at the kitchen bench,
first glass of wine in the hand,
these characters slide alongside,
sly and demanding Write me
they say Write me write me
Write me Write ME, hissing
in my ear, slapping my shoulder,
while another one stands close
and touches my thigh write me
he murmurs write me, you can.

From Boundaries: People and Places of Central Otago by Brian Turner

HAWKDUN SUMMER

In the dun valleys
the wind’s your life talking
morning, noon, and evening
before fields of stars
cluster above the pleated Hawkduns
and you’re left feeling
either less, or more, harried,
because that’s fate
when you’re in between.

And there are days when
a breeze ruffles the valley’s grasses
and the Ida’s a broad shallow sound,
and there are times
when time alone passes
and a temperament you can’t deny
accentuates the view
of unquenchable blue. And that’s
when you’re most
like you.

From Where Your Left Hand Rests by Fiona Kidman

RODIN'S DANCERS

Two by two, the tiny dancers appeared on the platform
at Pre-Catalan, emerging from their dressing room,
a green copse of woodland, their frail legs supporting
the turrets of their golden headgear, their jewelled
tunics, the great burden of their costume. They danced
then, mere children, the entourage of King Sisowath,
his little Cambodian dancers

their fingers like tethered trails of swallows
in the Parisian air, as the onlookers, at first
surprised, then rapturous in their applause
were joined by Rodin, the famous sculptor
turned away once at the gates of Palais de l’Elysée
even though he wore a suit. I will follow you,
he told the little Cambodian dancers

even if I have to follow you to Cairo.