The Tuesday Poem: Focusing On Tim Jones & “The stars Natasha”
The stars, Natasha
Natasha, fundamentals are strong,
key indicators steady.
Leave your books, Natasha,
let your computer
draw patterns on its screen.
Walk with me through the heavens.
Along cold orbits
the spendthrift stars
squander their assets on light.
The World Bank
is unamused; the IMF
is noting down their names.
So take my hand
let’s drift away
into the cosmic background.
©Tim Jones
First published in Boat People (HeadworX) 2002
Reprinted in Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand (Interactive Press) 2009
Reproduced here with permission.
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Currently, I’m refocusing on the poetry of Tim Jones, a fellow Tuesday Poet and friend in both poetry and speculative fiction prose. As I also share Tim’s enthusiasm for both science and science fiction it is perhaps not surprising that I enjoy this poem.
I featured it first on October 22, 2012.
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About The Poet:
Tim Jones is a New Zealand poet, author and editor who was awarded both the New Zealand Society of Authors Janet Frame Memorial Award for Literature and a Sir Julius Vogel Award in 2010. His latest book, co-edited with PS Cottier, is The Stars Like Sand: Australian Speculative Poetry (2014).
For more, see http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.com/
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To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here.
I feel for Natasha and her books (is she studying international affairs in this poem? Where is she now?). A sly point, the narrator’s aggrandisement of the IMF – from nation-helper to regulator of galaxies. Recently read how the World Bank is working harder to understand human behaviour, but applying economic models to our passions is certainly no less a task than shaming the profligate stars. A great selection, Helen. A beautiful poem, Tim.