{"id":26401,"date":"2014-08-05T06:30:58","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T18:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=26401"},"modified":"2014-07-15T16:57:52","modified_gmt":"2014-07-15T04:57:52","slug":"the-tuesday-poem-refeaturing-rhian-gallaghers-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2014\/08\/05\/the-tuesday-poem-refeaturing-rhian-gallaghers-butterfly\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tuesday Poem: Refeaturing Rhian Gallagher\u2019s \u201cButterfly\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Butterfly<\/h3>\n

We entered a year of slow burn
\nI stole a line from her eyes
\nShe wrote by hand return<\/p>\n

The body awoke to the act of yearn
\nMoisture met the heat of July
\nWe entered a year of slow burn<\/p>\n

A door ajar, could yield or close firm
\nFrom colleague to intimate ally
\nShe wrote by hand, I wrote in return<\/p>\n

Disclosure inched by turn
\nA long striptease of send and reply
\nWe entered a year of slow burn<\/p>\n

Shining and wild were in
\nOur lines, barely disguised
\nShe wrote by hand in return<\/p>\n

All grew from a pact of adjourn
\nOverwintering, waiting a sign in the sky
\nFused on a year of slow burn
\nWord at the start became touch in return.<\/p>\n

(c) Rhian Gallagher
\n.<\/span>
\nPublished in Shift<\/strong><\/em>, Auckland University Press, 2011<\/p>\n

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

\u2014<\/p>\n

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<\/em><\/strong> (Auckland University Press) — which went on to win the NZ Post Book Award for Poetry<\/a> in 2012.<\/p>\n

Here’s what the judges said about Shift<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And a little bit of what I said about “Butterfly”<\/em> in 2011:<\/p>\n

“<\/em>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.”<\/em><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>To check out the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub<\/strong> and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here<\/strong><\/a> or on the Quill<\/strong> icon <\/strong>in the sidebar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26401","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=26401"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26406,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26401\/revisions\/26406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}