Aphantasia

I want to stay forever at my mother’s table
describing the parts of the world that aren’t
immediate. Remind her of the porchlight,
like an ugly moon,
pooling over the balcony of the childhood home.

How the silhouettes of dead moths ached like craters
against the LED
and the egg yolk of the night slipped
down the back of our necks with a chill.
She held her arms up to the night sky like
a chalice to be filled.

I will make her recall the rosebud fist
of the happiest baby in the hospital,
orange robes like a mandarin rind and underneath
tiny, pale and pink. Hong Kong humidity flushed her
ripe and took her home, already having learned
to smile.

I will say
the memory of beautiful things is just as important
as the image. This is hypocrisy:
I will not say I’m so glad my mind has eyes
I’m so glad to have you forever.

Sadie Lawrence
in AUP New Poets 10, AUP,2024

The last few weeks I have been lingering over and loving AUP New Poets 10, edited by Anne Kennedy, and featuring the poetry of Tessa Keenan, romesh dissanayake and Sadie Lawrence.

And I have been transforming our spare room into my poetry room! Such discoveries, such richness, old friends and new friends. It’s like a poetry refresher course, and I’m ready to dive back into blogging, reading and new writing. Photograph above is one cluster of books on the poetry-room bed waiting to be shelved!

Listener Books Editor, Mark Broach, has dedicated this week’s issue to books (that said the magazine always features an excellent range of reviews). Mark surveys some of the best books of the year so far, local and global (I have circled a few for my next online spree). There is a feature on genre writers, another on Māori writers surfing an international demand for their work, Kirsty Gunn writes a brilliant piece on ‘dangerous’ fiction, there’s a new poem by James Brown, plus the usual gift of reviews (including Vincent O’Sullivan‘s posthumous volume, and new books by CK Stead, Majella Cullinane, Jake Arthur).

Several things this week prompted me to worry that I don’t pay people who contribute to my blogs, especially in such tough, challenging times. I’m in a privileged position at the moment where I can write and blog without grants but I don’t have the energy to apply for funding to pay contributors. My energy jar is still small, and my recovery road still bumpy, my blogs hanging on by skinny threads, so I carefully choose how I use my storage jar. I know from your emails how important self care is these days, and I always welcome your ‘no’ as much much as I appreciate your ‘yes’. When I posted my payment concerns on my social media page, your replies not only supported Poetry Shelf, but our reading and writing communities. Thank you.

I was delighted to read the programme for WORD Christchurch Festival. Programme director, Kiran Dass, has curated a festival that is a sublime celebration of our books and authors. Love it so much! Media release.

Writers on Mondays resumes this coming week. The series, curated by IIML Senior Lecturer Chris Price, is bigger than ever. Seventy-six poets, novelists, playwrights, and nonfiction writers will take part in 14 events across four venues between 8 July and 30 September. Full programme here. It’s a beauty!

An invite:
Last year I had to park my Road Trip poetry series, clusters of poems attached to various towns and cities in Aotearoa, but am hoping to reboot that soon. I only managed two stops!
Poetry Shelf does not accept submissions for the Monday Poem spot but I am inviting you to send poems for consideration for any of these places on my Towns and Cities road trip:

Deadline: 14th July
Email: paulajoygreen@gmail.com
Places yet to do: Ōtautahi Christchurch
Papaioea Palmerston North
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Ngāmotu Palmerston North
Te Tai Tokerau Northland towns and cities
Maniototo Central Otago towns
Te Ika-a-Māui North Island towns
Te Waipounamu South Island towns

New books in my letter box:

Vultures, Jenny Rockwell, Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2024
Undressing in slow motion, Michael Giacon, GTM Press, 2024
Departures, Dunstan Ward, Cold Hub Press, 2024
Guiding Lights: The extraordinary lives of lighthouse women, Shona Riddell, EXISLE, 2024

Weekly Links

Monday Poem: Ella Booray

Tuesday: 5 Questions – Stacey Teague
James Brown launch

Wednesday: Selina Tusitala Marsh curates a tribute suite of poems for Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard (1946 – May 26, 2024)

Friday: Couplets 2
The Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize

Poetry Box links

Review of I Love Books, Mariajo Ilustraji, and a holiday challenge for children who loving reading, with books to give away

Tuesday poem by Bill Nagelkerke

Introducing the Lynley Dodd Children’s Writers Award

Poetry for Children: ‘Leap’ Competition

Poems by children