The autumn cards boxed, unpacked, enveloped and ready for posting
This is our 18th Poems in the Waiting Room poetry card. It’s a slightly muted orange coloured card and will be available in your local waiting room from March 1 onwards. We’re sorry to say that after six braille editions we’ve had to cease publication. The cost of transcribing and printing meant it was just too expensive to continue publishing the braille booklets.
Please continue reading to find out a little more about the poets who feature in our latest card.
Claire Beynon
Claire Beynon was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and ‘came home’ to New Zealand in November 1994. A visual artist, art-science collaborator and writer of poetry and short stories, Claire blogs at All Finite Things Reveal Infinitude and at Waters I Have Known. Antarctica has her under its spell; two summer research seasons (2005 & 2008) working alongside US scientists in a remote field camp on the edge of the Taylor Dry Valleys significantly altered her way of seeing and being in the world. “It has always been important to me that my work carry the notes of exploration and mystery, wonder and contemplation.” Claire’s web address is http://www.clairebeynon.com
Peter Brown’s poem was an entry in the 2012 Poems in the Waiting Room poetry competition. He was born in Huntly and has paid tribute to a number of people who have influenced his life: his parents, Barry Hogan, Professor Brian Coote, Professor Peter Godfrey, Charlie Rose, Dorothy Heathcote and Edwina Issa.
Wendy Cope, photographer Adrian Harvey
Wendy Cope was a London primary school teacher until the publication of her first book of poems, “Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis”, in 1986. “Two Cures for Love”, a selection from her first three books, appeared in 2008. Her fourth collection,” Family Values”, was published in 2011. She recently moved from Winchester to Ely.
Joy Green
Joy Green lives with her husband and five rescued cats in Ashhurst, near Palmerston North, where she teaches writing and communication papers at Massey. She has been writing for most of her life and has been widely published in Europe and the US as well as Australia and New Zealand. She has recently completed her Masters in Creative Writing, which culminated in a multimedia and environmental installation of 13 poems; this reflected her enthusiasm for, and commitment to, getting poetry to an audience who wouldn’t otherwise see it – which is why she is so pleased to be part of this project.
Lola Haskins
Lola Haskins lives in Gainesville, FL. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The London Review of Books, London Magazine, and elsewhere. She has published eleven books of poetry and three of prose. Among her awards are a silver medal from the Florida Book Awards, the Iowa Poetry Prize, two NEA fellowships, four Florida state fellowships, the Emily Dickinson Prize from the Poetry Society of America, and narrative prizes from New England Review and Southern Poetry Review. Since 2005, when she retired from teaching Computer Science at the University of Florida, Ms. Haskins has served on the faculty of a low-residency MFA program in Tacoma, WA. For more information, please visit her at http://www.lolahaskins.com.
David Kelly-Hedrick
David Kelly-Hedrick is a poetry artist and writer. He also works as an organizer and consultant for social innovation, outdoor education, and youth leadership. He lives in Dunedin with his family. He enjoys hikes and tramping with them and believes the last call will arrive in verse.
Catherine Mair
Catherine Mair began writing in the late 1980s. At the time Catherine and her husband, Selwyn, were dairy farming in the Western Bay of Plenty. She loved the rural environment and enjoyed the space it afforded her family of four. Catherine became interested in writing haiku. One of her major achievements has been the inspiration of Katikati’s Haiku Pathway which evolved as Katikati’s millennium project. She is still involved as chairwoman of the Katikati Haiku Pathway Focus Committee.
Harvey McQueen, photographer Rob Stephenson
Harvey McQueen worked as a teacher, school inspector, civil servant and education consultant before joining David Lange’s staff, and later overseeing the formation of the Teachers Council. His books include nine volumes of his own poetry. He was editor or co-editor of eight poetry anthologies and a much-loved memoir, This Piece of Earth.
Greg O’Connell
“I’m a poet and performer working in schools throughout New Zealand, and around the world. I’m a wholehearted ambassador for poetry, because poetry brings words and the world alive, in ways that only poetry can. Poetry has the power to make literacy exciting, enriching, and sensational fun.”
So goes the official blurb on the home page of my website and, more recently, my Facebook page. But the real magic happens when young faces, and eyes, and minds, and hearts, light up with the pure fun of taking part in a live, interactive poetry show. There is no experience quite like it!
Poems in the Waiting Room (NZ) 