20 December 2011

(Very late) Tuesday and Christmas poem: 'Pōhutukawa' by Vivienne Plumb


Vivienne Plumb has just been announced as one of the two Randell Cottage fellows for next year (she's the NZ one in the second half of the year, Florence Cadier is the French one in the first half of the year). She plans to use the time to research and write a novel with political themes set in Wellington. I'm very proud to have published her most recent book, The Cheese and Onion Sandwich and other New Zealand Icons: Prose Poems, from which 'Pōhutukawa' comes, in October.

I chose this because it's a very Christmas poem, a very New Zealand Christmas. Red pōhutukawa threads on the ground, hot asphalt, asparagus, fractures.

And look, I have 10 minutes left of Tuesday!

Check out other Tuesday (and some Christmassy) poems over at the Tuesday Poem blog: http://tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com/

4 comments:

Elizabeth Welsh said...

'A thousand crimson shivers' - I can just picture the bright stamens quivering. This is certainly Christmas encapsulated! Love it.

Jennifer Compton said...

how i miss pohutakawa

Helen Lowe said...

I like the image created; very evocative ...

Helen Rickerby said...

Thanks for your comments everyone. Jennifer, do you think they could grow in Australia? I'm sure they could. You should grow some!