Tēnā koe
It was recently my 37th birthday. I spent time with my sweet Mark and a couple friends. I attended a session of the Otepoti Writers Lab, and generally just did whatever I felt like doing.
A friend who wasn’t able to come to Dunedin that weekend — it was the Easter break — sent me a lovely gift instead which I’d like to share.
So Liz Breslin spent some of her own precious time writing me a poem (wow!), but the best/most intriguing part was the subject heading of the email:
“hello i wrote you a poem out of your own words on Instagram for your happy birthday”
Isn’t that the nicest thing?!
It was so wonderfully surreal to see a new poem from a poet I respect constructed out of recognizable tidbits, quotes from things that I myself had written.
Thank you so much, Liz! <3
here’s how to get the look just right not quite peacock, always take the doggy bag with withering intensity, a feminist statement contrapuntal reading, can’t buy a thrill strings build and hold some tension homebird, she want corner steamy heat pump mingling I’m not a stalker but I am flush with caffeine and aroha nui, e te whānau she’s a fired-up flipper cat the sherbet scent of vapes coffee, duh no bra, no worries top notch Flavourtown rugby, rugby, frothing for rugby this is #Dunedin, #poetry and #brew pain for decoration hard seltzer comes with collagen now all focus moves to this new music today I am treating myself