Freshly released this month, Wellington poet Helen Heath's first collection Graft (VUP) is the source of the poem at Tuesday Poem, selected by Helen Rickerby. 'Postcards' is a long poem at the heart of the book, and Helen R has extracted some of it to showcase on the international poetry hub.
She says: In this sequence the narrator is visiting Greece, seeking something (in the sequence that follows – 'Graft', we learn more about what that is). In ‘iv. Greek for Travellers’ we get phrases as if from a phrase book – and, as humans do, we join things up to make a story. The sharp-eyed humour mixed/contrasting with deep and sometimes painful feeling is a combination you’ll find quite frequently in Helen’s work.
Helen R talks about how science and empirical study are a big part of the collection - and ... she points out that the Hutt features too - including a girl in ugg boots (both Helens are Hutt girls it seems). It's a fascinating post about a fascinating book and poet. Recommended. And after that, go into the TP sidebar to find a host of other poems written by the 31 poets there or posted by them - work by poets they admire. Helen Heath features again - then there's George Eliot, Ursula Bethell and other delicious offerings going up as you read this from poets in NZ, Australia, the UK, the US and Italy.
