{"id":33032,"date":"2016-08-30T06:30:04","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T18:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=33032"},"modified":"2016-08-28T18:31:22","modified_gmt":"2016-08-28T06:31:22","slug":"doriss-petticoat-by-james-norcliffe-a-tuesday-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2016\/08\/30\/doriss-petticoat-by-james-norcliffe-a-tuesday-feature\/","title":{"rendered":"“Doris’s petticoat” by James Norcliffe — A Tuesday Feature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doris\u2019s petticoat<\/strong><\/h4>\n

this is a place I have to leave
\nthe faded wallpaper
\nthe deceased framed on the walls
\nthe bad spelling<\/p>\n

it\u2019s enough to put
\nsugar in your gasoline
\nDoris said
\nand I agreed<\/p>\n

they\u2019d built a Mediterranean garden to catch the sun
\nforgetting that each night the shadows come
\nand the olive trees clump stump-footed into blackness
\nthe pencil cypresses point accusingly
\nthe lemons get increasingly bitter<\/p>\n

wouldn\u2019t it make your tendrils twitch?
\nsaid Doris<\/p>\n

but I disagreed
\nmy tendrils had long done twitching
\nbeing as skinny and etiolated
\nas ribbon-worms in a specimen bottle<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t stay here I said
\nnot with these stains on the carpet
\nthe faded canaries roosting
\nlike lost arguments on bent perches
\nthe chipped cups the chipped nails<\/p>\n

wouldn\u2019t it rip your petticoat
\nsaid Doris<\/p>\n

but too late much too late
\nmy wallet had been stolen
\nmy petticoat had been
\nin shreds for weeks<\/p>\n

\u00a9 James Norcliffe<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"Dark_Days_at_the_Oxygen_Cafe\"<\/a>Doris’s petticoat<\/span><\/em> 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\u00a0Caf\u00e9<\/em><\/strong> (Victoria University Press) that was launched last Friday as part of WORD Christchurch, the Christchurch Writers and Readers’ Festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am delighted that Jim has allowed me to share one of these poems with you today, to celebrate release of the book.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018His poems invariably get us to attend more closely to the spirit of existence, to moments of being.\u2019<\/em> \u2014David Eggleton<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018A poetry that risks delight.\u2019<\/em> \u2014Michael Harlow<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

About The Poet:<\/h4>\n

\"James<\/a>James Norcliffe has published a collection of short stories, eight collections of poetry, most recently Villon in Millerton<\/em> (AUP) and Shadow Play<\/em> (Proverse) and several award-winning novels for young people including The Loblolly Boy<\/em> (Longacre\/Random) and its successor The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer<\/em> (Longacre\/Random). His most recent books for young people are Felix and the Red Rats<\/em> (Longacre\/Random) 2012 and The Pirates and the Nightmaker<\/em> (Longacre\/Random) 2015. A new children’s novel, Digger Dagger<\/em>, is forthcoming next year.<\/p>\n

A new poetry collection, Dark Days in the Oxygen Caf\u00e9<\/em> (Victoria University Press), launched at the WORD Christchurch Festival last Friday.<\/p>\n

James had a long time involvement with Takahe<\/strong> magazine and has edited anthologies of poetry and of writing by young people, notably the long running ReDraft<\/strong> 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:\u00ad Facing the Empty Page <\/em>(Godwit\/Random) 2014; and with Joanna Preston Leaving the Red Zone: \u00ad Poems from the Camterbury Earthquakes<\/em> (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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doris\u2019s petticoat this is a place I have to leave the faded wallpaper the deceased framed on the walls the bad spelling it\u2019s enough to put sugar in your gasoline Doris said and I agreed they\u2019d built a Mediterranean garden to catch the sun forgetting that each night the shadows come and the olive trees […]<\/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-33032","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\/33032","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=33032"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33040,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33032\/revisions\/33040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}