Nodding is Soft
I can only tell you. What I saw.
And all I can. Say is that you.
Wouldn’t have wanted. To see it
yourself no. Sir it was not.
For public. Consumption it was
very hard and very. Bad probably
the hardest and. Baddest thing
to see but yes. I saw. It I saw
it hard and it was. Bad but even
when I. Saw it I didn’t say. Wow
that is the hardest. Thing I’ve ever
seen I just. Said when. Are we
leaving and you. Said well we
can leave when. You’ve finished
looking at the. Thing you’re looking
at. And so I turned. Away but
already I. Knew it was. Not
worth telling you. About this
most hardest and. Baddest thing
it is not. Soft not like your. Nodding
is soft. But why are. You nodding
don’t you know. That this is. The
hardest and baddest. Thing. No you.
Don’t understand it is. The worst.
I can only. Tell you what.
Lynley Edmeades, Listening In, Otago University Press, 2019
Lynley Edmeades completed an MA at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2012. Her first collection of poetry, As the Verb Tenses (Otago University Press, 2016) was longlisted for the Ockham NZ Book Awards for Poetry, and shortlisted for the UNESCO Bridges of Struga Best First Book Award. She has a PhD in avant-garde poetics and teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Otago.
Otago University Press page
Lynley in conversation with Lynn Freeman (it’s terrific) Standing Room Only