“Doris’s petticoat” by James Norcliffe — A Tuesday Feature
Doris’s petticoat
this is a place I have to leave
the faded wallpaper
the deceased framed on the walls
the bad spelling
it’s enough to put
sugar in your gasoline
Doris said
and I agreed
they’d built a Mediterranean garden to catch the sun
forgetting that each night the shadows come
and the olive trees clump stump-footed into blackness
the pencil cypresses point accusingly
the lemons get increasingly bitter
wouldn’t it make your tendrils twitch?
said Doris
but I disagreed
my tendrils had long done twitching
being as skinny and etiolated
as ribbon-worms in a specimen bottle
I can’t stay here I said
not with these stains on the carpet
the faded canaries roosting
like lost arguments on bent perches
the chipped cups the chipped nails
wouldn’t it rip your petticoat
said Doris
but too late much too late
my wallet had been stolen
my petticoat had been
in shreds for weeks
© James Norcliffe
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Doris’s petticoat is one of the many intriguing, irreverent, and wry poems that make up James Norcliffe’s latest book of poetry, Dark Days At The Oxygen Café (Victoria University Press) that was launched last Friday as part of WORD Christchurch, the Christchurch Writers and Readers’ Festival.
I am delighted that Jim has allowed me to share one of these poems with you today, to celebrate release of the book.
‘His poems invariably get us to attend more closely to the spirit of existence, to moments of being.’ —David Eggleton
‘A poetry that risks delight.’ —Michael Harlow
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About The Poet:
James Norcliffe has published a collection of short stories, eight collections of poetry, most recently Villon in Millerton (AUP) and Shadow Play (Proverse) and several award-winning novels for young people including The Loblolly Boy (Longacre/Random) and its successor The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer (Longacre/Random). His most recent books for young people are Felix and the Red Rats (Longacre/Random) 2012 and The Pirates and the Nightmaker (Longacre/Random) 2015. A new children’s novel, Digger Dagger, is forthcoming next year.
A new poetry collection, Dark Days in the Oxygen Café (Victoria University Press), launched at the WORD Christchurch Festival last Friday.
James had a long time involvement with Takahe magazine and has edited anthologies of poetry and of writing by young people, notably the long running ReDraft annual anthologies which he edits with Tessa Duder. Most recently he has edited, with Harry Ricketts and Siobhan Harvey, the anthology Essential New Zealand Poems: Facing the Empty Page (Godwit/Random) 2014; and with Joanna Preston Leaving the Red Zone: Poems from the Camterbury Earthquakes (Clerestory Press) 2016. He has won a number of awards for both his poetry and his writing for young people. With Bernadette Hall, he was presented with a Press Literary Liaisons’ Honour Award for lasting contribution to literature in the South Island, New Zealand.
James has been awarded writing fellowships both in NZ and overseas including the Burns Fellowship, the IWP / Iowa Residency, and residencies in Hobart, Massey University, and Otago University College of Education. He publishes poetry internationally and regularly reads at festivals and occasions throughout NZ and overseas: most recently the Queensland Poetry Festival in 2008, in Medellin, Colombia for the International Poetry Festival in 2010; and in 2011 in Quebec at the Trois Rivieres International Poetry Festival. His work is published widely in journals world-wide and has been translated into several languages.