Escape into our Summer poetry card

When compiling the cards I always make every effort for each one to be the best. But now and then a special edition just comes together and the summer 2012 card is one such edition. I hope you can take some time out in this busy season to sit back and enjoy these poems.

Remember if you’re in the mood for playing with words over the holiday season why not string some together and enter our poetry competition. Click on the Poetry Competition tab above and select Poetry Competition 2013 for the rules and close off date.

The summer card features the work of the following poets:

Alexis Evans –  I wrote to the editors of the magazine where this poem was first published but they had no current address details for Alexis. This is the first time I’ve ever used a poem without permission. If Alexis sees this, please contact me.

Dale Ritterbusch is the author of two collections of poetry, Lessons Learned and Far From the Temple of Heaven.  He is a professor of English in the Department of Languages and Literatures at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.  He is currently serving as Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of English & Fine Arts at the United States Air Force Academy.

 Dan Healy says I was born in Wales. I work as a Bookseller in Cambridge. I have two collections ‘winter Lines’ and ‘Facsimiles’ both published by Cinnamon Press.

Lorna Crozier was born in 1948 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. As a child growing up in a prairie community where the local heroes were hockey players and curlers, she “never once thought of being a writer.” After university, Lorna went on to teach high school English and work as a guidance counsellor. During these years, Lorna published her first poem in Grain magazine, a publication that turned her life toward writing. Her first collection Inside in the Sky was published in 1976. Since then, she has authored 14 books of poetry. She currently  holds the Head Chair in the Writing Department at the University of Victoria.

Louis Johnson worked as journalist, editor and teacher. He was the founding editor of the New Zealand Poetry Yearbook, which ran from 1951 to the mid sixties.  In the fifties and sixties he deliberately sought to introduce suburban themes into verse. Much of his later poetry focussed on domestic themes. His titles include, Bread and a Pension, True Confessions of the Last Cannibal, and Last Poems. After his death in 1988 Terry Sturm edited his Selected Poems.

And just out of interest: The postperson herself, Miranda, now has a  PhD in indigenous history and holds an appointment as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the History Dept at the University of Sydney, so all that letter writing at four years of age must have been useful!

Margaret Mahy was a New Zealand author of children’s and young adult books. She wrote more than 100 picture books, 40 novels and 20 collections of short stories. She was one of thirty writers to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, for her lasting contribution to children’s literature.

Patricia Prime  is co-editor of the New Zealand haiku magazine, Kokako, reviews/interviews editor of Haibun Today, and writes reviews for Takahe, Gusts and Atlas Poetica, and for several Indian magazines.  Patricia writes haiku, tanka, haibun and tanka prose and has published her poetry worldwide.  Patricia is one of 12 haiku poets who contributed to PitWR’s 2012 When North meets South exhibition.

Rangi Faith says, I was born in Timaru in 1949 and grew up in South Canterbury. After many years teaching at schools in Kaikoura, Lake Brunner, Banks Peninsula, and North Canterbury I am now writing fulltime (and teaching part-time!) I’ve written an anthology of poetry for schools (Dangerous Landscapes, Longman, 1994), and a teaching resource entitled ‘Technology of the Maori’ (Curriculum Concepts, 2004). My books of poetry include ‘Unfinished Crossword’ (Hazard Press 1990), ‘Rivers Without Eels’ (Huia Publications 2001) and ‘Conversation with a Moahunter’ (Steele Roberts Ltd 2005). My work is printed in many New Zealand literary publications including MAI Review, Southern Ocean Review, Sidestream, JAAM, Spin, Poetry Aotearoa, and Brief. See http://www.rangifaith.co.nz.

Right now I’m still at the enveloping the cards stage. It’s a matter of fitting this task in around work and also minding the Gallery. If you live in the Dunedin area come on out to Bellamys Gallery at Macandrew Bay and see our exhibition When North meets South (whennorthmeetssouth.wordpress.com). It’s open every afternoon, 12-5, until November 25.

Look out for the summer cards in your local waiting room or rest home from November 28 onwards.

Ruth