Wild Bluebell
for Anne Brown

For your birthday I bought a cologne I’d never smelt 
but liked the sound of, a collection of Mary Oliver’s 
and a card with a woodcut print of a duck with a bow 
around its neck. Inadequate; typical me. But I’m starting 
to see how much of me I believe is you too – bones, 
thumbs, wild mind, taut heart, loving worry, wanting 
more but also loathe to intrude. I won’t be home 
for your birthday, so post this parcel of attempts to show
what I know I owe, what I know of you, where I know 
I have yet to go. I will be there two weeks late, and then 
we can celebrate, I hope. Meanwhile, I think of you 
reading Little Alleluias and smelling of bluebells.

Amy Brown

Amy Brown is a poet, novelist and teacher from Te Matau-a-Māui, who lives in Naarm (Melbourne) with her husband and son. Her last novel, My Brilliant Sister, was described by the Guardian as “a creative triumph.” Her next book, This Creature, will be published in 2027.

The Poetry Shelf Breathing Room: A place to enter and pause and take a long slow breath and then another, as you absorb the beauty movement joy stillness wonder movement surprise heart-and-mind-and-body enhancement of a poem.