Unleash The Power — Tomorrow is National Poetry Day
On Monday, I farewelled Riemke Ensing, including a closer look at her poem O Lucky Man, which was part of the collection of the same name, celebrating Charles Brasch (1909 – 1973) and his life in letters.
A tribute that felt all the more fitting since tomorrow is National Poetry Day. If you’re in NZ and looking for an event, check out the National Poetry Day website.
To get in the spirit myself, I’m reposting my poem — and in the spirit of the recently released My Brilliant Career series, I’ve chosen:
Outback
red dirt drifts
along narrow tyre
tracks
heat shimmers
against bleached
sky
a homestead settles
into earth, its last
neighbour
a solitary chimney
– the car slows,
stops
ochre dust
filters through air
conditioning
coats everything:
clothes, shoes,
skin
the screen door sags
on its hinges, hello
echoes
through empty rooms
—
(c) Helen Lowe 2008
First published in Poetry NZ (September 2008)
