Except Once (2012)

Kirsty Black: Except Once (2012)

(July 13, 2012) Except Once. Korero: Poetry / Art Collaboration with Kirsty Black. Curated by Siobhan Harvey & Melissa Elliot (13 July - 2 August, 2012). (Howick: Uxbridge Creative Centre, 2012).

Except Once

– Aren’t I always nice to you?
– Except once.
(Overheard in the Massey @ Albany Refectory)


tap’s still dripping, diesel generators roar
in shop doors, no money rolls
in, lumps of old essay sag
in plastic bags – I type out texts
from Penguin Books of European Verse.
   The water’s too cold
      for swimming.

Focus on externals: tick of death
in Irene’s stomach, Miriel’s scorched flesh,
brain-clots and blood-diseases, Julian’s sister
killed on Saturday night – I like to see
the islands in the gulf, driving
   down the long hill, ships floating
      down the sky.

(17/3/98)

Korero. The Imaginary Museum (13/7/12)

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