New verse by the winner of the 2018 Ockham New Zealand national book award prize for poetry, Elizabeth Smither. Night time words to Ruby I hold you in my arms and say beautiful girl, beautiful girl. You do not want to go to bed: instead you say you’re instructed to lie between … Read more
New verse by New Plymouth writer Elizabeth Smither. The man who wanted to stroke my hair The St Kilda tram. Bright summer air. Breeze through the window gap, stirring all manner of motes, tendrils of hair lifting their traces on my neck. Fine hairs of a different sort, underneath. Antennae not needed for … Read more
New verse by New Plymouth writer Elizabeth Smither. The name in the freezer Someone we both disliked: you wrote his name on a slip of paper, folded it and inserted it in the freezer under a tray of ice cubes, next to a frozen chicken, frozen vegetables a casserole sectioned into cartons. … Read more
All week this week we recommend the very best, A-grade quality, guaranteed good books for Christmas. Today: Elizabeth Smither reviews the medical memoir by Middlemore sawbones Dr David Galler, Things That Matter. I have a weakness for books written by doctors – medical books, autobiographies, reminiscences that combine medical information and terminologies with the humanity of the … Read more
New verse by New Plymouth poet Elizabeth Smither The heart heals itself between beats When the Middlesex Hospital was coming down I walked through empty corridors to the chapel and stood behind a rood screen, admiring self-sacrificing matrons and eminent surgeons. The heart heals itself between beats. The heart heals itself between beats. … Read more