17 September 2010

Interview with Miriam Barr

I've been a slack blogger of late, and I don't think that's going to change much any time soon because I'm working on getting JAAM 28 off to the printers, and also working on my next Seraph Press publishing project, which I will announce as soon as I get the time to write a proper blog post about it (perhaps that will be tomorrow?), BUT, I just came across an interview with Auckland poet Miriam Barr (by Renee Liang) on The Big Idea, which I wanted to link to.

Miriam is the founding energy behind Side Stream poetry zine (which is how I first came across her). She's also an organiser of the long-running Poetry Live in Auckland (which is how I came to meet her in real life) and was the creative director of The Literatti, a poetry performance group.

Anyway, it's an interesting and in-depth interview: http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/news/blogs/talkwrite/2010/sep/75000-cultural-storytellers-miriam-barr.

And now I'm going to go and watch the news. Good night!

13 September 2010

Tuesday poem: 'Finding the cracks' from Heading North

Finding the cracks

I needed to find the edges
of myself, prise a little
let some daylight in

It’s only when touched
that we know
the limits
of ourselves, where our skin stops
where our self ends

a breeze
a hand
a tear


I'm posting another poem from Heading North, partly because I hadn't gotten organised enough to get a poem off anyone else, but also because I had a wee launchy afternoon tea celebration for it on Saturday. It was kind of fun to do a wee reading in my own lounge, which, with the doors to the dining room open, and the dining table removed, becomes quite a large space. Maybe I should host poetry readings ...?

'Finding the cracks' isn't really a very typical poem in the book - most of them are longer and more narrative. But this is kind of the non-narrative heart of it - the emotional story I guess.

Anyway, you'll find more Tuesday poems over here: http://tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com/, check them out.