The Tuesday Poem: Refeaturing Rhian Gallagher’s “Butterfly”
Butterfly
We entered a year of slow burn
I stole a line from her eyes
She wrote by hand return
The body awoke to the act of yearn
Moisture met the heat of July
We entered a year of slow burn
A door ajar, could yield or close firm
From colleague to intimate ally
She wrote by hand, I wrote in return
Disclosure inched by turn
A long striptease of send and reply
We entered a year of slow burn
Shining and wild were in
Our lines, barely disguised
She wrote by hand in return
All grew from a pact of adjourn
Overwintering, waiting a sign in the sky
Fused on a year of slow burn
Word at the start became touch in return.
(c) Rhian Gallagher
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Published in Shift, Auckland University Press, 2011
Reproduced here with permission.
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On 23 August, 2011, I was guest editor on The Tuesday Poem blog and featured “Butterfly” from Rhian Gallagher’s soon-to-be-published collection Shift (Auckland University Press) — which went on to win the NZ Post Book Award for Poetry in 2012.
Here’s what the judges said about Shift:
“The poems offer elegance, mysteriousness, musical harmonies, satisfying quietness and subtle emotions. Sounds and themes stitch the collection with an assured and unifying touch. You fall upon little autobiographical traces in the shadows, traces that are both moving and intense.”
And a little bit of what I said about “Butterfly” in 2011:
“Butterfly follows the form of the villanelle, although it reflects the contemporary trend of allowing variation in the wording of the refrain. I believe this poem is representative of Rhian’s work in terms of the beauty and delicacy of the writing, a delicacy that nonetheless enhances both the emotional depth of the poem and also the adherence to a demanding form.”
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