Photo credit: Thomas Langdon

 

 

I keep my own hours

I write on the side

I take it easy on myself

I make excuses

I follow the rules

The law of nature

The loss of appetite

I come undone

Just like you

I sit in the long grass

I take my time

I take notes

In lectures

At readings

In lieu of feeling

I take notes

I cite wars

Just like you

I open my arms

I follow through

I know the script

We are reading from

I sit by the river

I pick every petal

The river loves me

The river doesn’t love me

Just like you

 

© Courtney Sina Meredith 2016

 

Courtney Sina Meredith is just back from her stint as a writer-in-residence for the prestigious International Writing Progamme’s Fall Residency at the University of Iowa.

Her terrific Tale of the Taniwha is long-listed in the fiction section of The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards this year. In my SST review I sang the book’s  praises:

‘Writing becomes a way of self-recognition for Meredith.  It is song, idea, heart, family. The stories come out of a Pasifika heritage, a female heritage, and that matters. This book, marvellous and memorable, affected me as both a writer and a person. It offers me points of self-recognition. With this book, Meredith joins our very best writers.’

The sun is shining, the wind is blustering and I felt in the mood for a new CSM poem and Courtney obliged with this bitter sweet gem. I adore it. Thank you!