{"id":18481,"date":"2013-01-29T06:30:49","date_gmt":"2013-01-28T17:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=18481"},"modified":"2013-01-28T21:17:34","modified_gmt":"2013-01-28T08:17:34","slug":"tuesday-poem-we-children-by-janine-sowerby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2013\/01\/29\/tuesday-poem-we-children-by-janine-sowerby\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Poem: “We Children” by Janine Sowerby"},"content":{"rendered":"

we children<\/h3>\n

we children
\nwhen the days stretched
\nover the horizon, sprang
\nfrom our sleeping bags, threw
\non our summer uniform, left
\nmum and dad dreaming, ran
\nbarefoot through the bush, the river,
\nto the beach<\/p>\n

we children
\npopped washed up blue
\nbottles, chased cantankerous
\ncrabs, rescued stubborn sea
\ncreatures from rock pools, buried
\neach other below sand castles, built
\nforts manned by katipos, cooked ourselves
\nin the sun<\/p>\n

we children
\ngot seaweed in our hair, sand
\nin our bum cracks, stranded
\nby the tide, wrestled the ball
\nfrom everyone\u2019s Dad, rang
\nrings around them, stained our clothes
\ngreen, looked forward to doing it
\nall again tomorrow<\/p>\n

now brother
\nyou live over the horizon
\nand I no longer swim
\nin the sea<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Janine Sowerby<\/p>\n

First published in The Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reproduced here with permission.<\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 Katipo(s) are a native NZ spider, often found in driftwood on beaches;\r\nthey are also NZ's only naturally occurring poisonous spider (we've gained a\r\nfew imports of recent years.)<\/pre>\n
—<\/p>\n
About the Poem:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>Welcome back to The Tuesday Poem<\/a> everyone—and if I haven’t said it to you already:\u00a0 Happy New Year!<\/p>\n
As we’re ripping back into The Tuesday Poem<\/strong> at the height of summer, I want to focus on some “summer” themed poems—and I don’t think I could start with a better one than Janine Sowerby’s We Children.<\/em> For me this poem captures the very essence of the essential—and quintessential—Kiwi summer: sun, sea, beach, bach, family and friends.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>If it were just that, I still think We Children<\/em> would be a great summertime poem—but then Janine delivers the killer final stanza that captures so much more: the adult’s regret for summers and childhood past, certainly, but it’s not just a nostalgia poem—it also captures the disconnection that can occur between family members when we\u00a0 grow up and grow apart, or are simply separated by distance; as well as the loss of courage, a sense of possibility, and even of hope that can also sometimes be part of what adulthood brings.<\/p>\n
So—a poem of many levels and a great start, I feel, to our Tuesday Poem year. Enjoy!<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
About the Poet:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Janine Sowerby<\/strong> has, in addition to various competition placings, had poetry and short stories published in New Zealand and overseas, including in Takahe, The Press, Kokako<\/strong> and NZ Poetry Society and other anthologies such as tiny gaps<\/strong>, Before the Sirocco, a taste of nashi, Crest to Crest<\/strong> and A Foreign Country<\/strong>. Janine has also had some of her poetry broadcast on Plains FM 96.9, for the Women on Air programme.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub<\/strong>\u2014and link to other Tuesday Poets posting around NZ and the world\u2014either click here<\/strong><\/a> or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
we children we children when the days stretched over the horizon, sprang from our sleeping bags, threw on our summer uniform, left mum and dad dreaming, ran barefoot through the bush, the river, to the beach we children popped washed up blue bottles, chased cantankerous crabs, rescued stubborn sea creatures from rock pools, buried each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-writers","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18481"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18507,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18481\/revisions\/18507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}