Poetry Conference in New Zealand

Barbara Smith, Marion Baird, BLS,
Mere Taito and Jenny Fraser (l to r)

Five poets from Hamilton attended a national poetry conference (the first for a long time, if not ever) in Havelock North, near Hastings in the North Island (Te Ika a Maui or 'the fish of Maui') over the weekend of 2nd/ 3rd November 2013. The conference started on the Friday night with readings from the NZ Poet Laureate, Vincent O'Sullivan, followed by the first of four plenary sessions, each of 12 poets. Over the next two days the one hundred poets attended three more plenary sessions, two poetry group sessions and three panel discussions involving 'current approaches to getting poems published', 'form and content in contemporary poetry', and 'what editors are looking for'. And we all heard a great selection of excellent poems.

The conference was extremely well organised. Despite apprehension at the very full programme there were no heads seen to be nodding and the conference was marked by enthusiastic collegiality, intensity and humour.  The sessions were divided by five minute breaks at which everyone resumed their conversations from the last break! The venue also was good with room for attendees to get up from their chairs to talk, eat, drink and relax within seconds of the break being declared. Many were the friendships made and renewed.

I was lucky enough to be in the last plenary session, ably chaired by Maris O'Rourke.  The spirit of the conference was evident in the enthusiastic and copious exchange of emails between all of our participants. Well done Bill Sutton and your band of ready slaves : -) - and thanks from me.

Oh, and the Hamilton gang enjoyed their journey, one another's company - the whole caboodle.
Here's one of my poems:

WIND

I see you now, wind

bending branches

flowing across the slopes

of tussock

you make sounds

and when I hear you

at night, driving rain

against my window

the sound of you

through my aerial

reminds me of the moan

of you in rigging

you make sighs

on balmy days,

thunderclaps on ridges

what moves you, wind?

your absence

a lack of nodding

amongst flowers

part of that rare total hush

and you carry the must of earth

that tells the sailor at night

that he is nearly home

from the sea

you lift spume from waves

as I descend another trough,

cause spindrift between

waves of sastrugi

you flutter my flag

lick sweat from my brow

cause birds to fly

you are the very air I breathe

and I have learned

to hide from the chill

of your brisk southerly

embrace the warmth

of your nor-wester

relish your easterly

from the sea

wind.

I need you, wind

cool me, warm me

buffet me, feel me

wind.