Tuesday Poem: Watching The Birds

An old woman in a bathchair
appears on the lawn
hair freshly combed
rug newly straightened.
Her attendants
relieved
move away
two hours future-proofed.
She is watching the birds
the impudent birds
blackbird, thrush
sparrow
looking for bread
raven, crow
corvidae
tugging at rings
waxeye
fantail
grey warbler
trying to perch.
The old woman
stares straight ahead
eyes wide in delight
watching
roc
moa
elephant bird
vast as the house
she shared with her mother
when Father was gone to the war.
They push at her face with their beaks.
An old woman. The insolent birds.

Credit note: This poem was first published in my second poetry collection, All Blacks’ Kitchen Gardens.

Tim says: There is something lacking from this poem: The Takahe, which I encourage you all to vote for as New Zealand’s Bird of the Year 2012

The Tuesday Poem: Can be found in all its multifarious magnificence on the Tuesday Poem blog.

Poetry Readings In Takaka And Nelson

I’m off soon to a part of Aotearoa I’ve never visited before: Golden Bay. I’ve judged the poetry division of this year’s Golden Bay Literary Awards, and I’m attending the prizegiving ceremeony in Takaka on Thursday night.

The following day, Friday the 21st, after an event at the local school (I have no idea what this involves yet!), I’m reading at the Takaka Memorial Library at 1pm. Here are the event details:

http://itson.co.nz/2012/4689-takaka-library-poetry-reading-with-tim-jones

Then, after a few days’ break during which I’m really looking forward to get some writing done, I am reading – in a yurt! – as the September guest for Nelson Live Poets. There is a Facebook event for this one: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/380878888650908/ – if you have friends in Nelson, please invite them to this event.

The poster and the press release for the Nelson reading are below. I’m not sure whether I feel masculine enough to live up to the press release – it may be time for a quick course of testosterone supplements before I travel south!



Media Release – 6 September 2012
Manhood and science fiction – out of this world poetry at the Free House
Science fiction and manhood are set to do a merry dance at Nelson’s Free House this month as poems from the collection Men Briefly Explained and the science fiction poetry anthology Voyagers, get an airing at Nelson Live Poets.
Tim Jones, poet and science fiction writer from Wellington, is the featured guest at the Nelson Live Poet’s Society’s September gathering.
Jones will be performing poems from Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand(Interactive Press, 2009, co-edited with Mark Pirie), and will also treat the audience to samplings from his latest collection of poems, Men Briefly Explained (2011).
Men Briefly Explained, his third book of poems, explores all aspects of contemporary manhood, the humorous and not so humorous, and lifts the covers on where men are in relation to women and to society in general!
The mix of science fiction and manhood promises an entertaining night in The Yurt at the Free House as Live Poets continues to encourage and promote a wide range of both local and national poetic talent.
Among his other recent books are the fantasy novel Anarya’s Secret(RedBrick, 2007) and a short story collection Transported(Vintage, 2008).
Voyagerswon the “Best Collected Work” category in the 2010 Sir Julius Vogel Awards and was listed as one of the Listener‘s 100 Best Books of 2009.  Jones was also awarded the NZSA Janet Frame Memorial Award for Literature in 2010.
As well as performing his poems at Nelson Live Poets, Tim Jones will be attending the Golden Bay Lit awards as this year’s guest judge.
Local poets also get the opportunity to perform their work during the regular and legendary open mic sessions. These sessions give Live Poets its beating heart as first-timers and established performers stand together to deliver words of wisdom and wonder!
Open mic performers, who have slots before and after the night’s guest, can register on the night. Jim Doak will open the evening with song and guitar.
ENDS
Live Poets Society
FeaturingTim Jones
In the Yurt @The Free House
Collingwood Street, Nelson.
on Monday evening, 24 September , 2012
Doors open: 6.00 pm
Music from 6.30 pm.
Koha entry.
ENDS
Further information:
Carol Ercolano – 03-545 0162
Mark Raffills – 03 544 4975
Nelson Live Poets Society

Vote Takahe Campaign Denies Public Money Used For Campaign Video

The Vote Takahe campaign today denied that public money had been used to promote their Bird of the Year 2012 election campaign. Rival birds claimed yesterday that the following promotional video about Takahe had been made by a TV channel funded by public money:

Members of the Takahe campaign refused to come into the studio to answer this allegation, but the campaign did provide the following video response:

Experts in Takahe language have interpreted this statement to mean “Vote Takahe as Bird of the Year 2012!”, and you can do just that at the Bird of the Year site.

Some actual facts about takahe

  • The takahē is an endangered flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand.
  • Takahē once lived throughout the North and South Islands and were thought to be extinct until rediscovered by Geoffrey Orbell near Lake Te Anau in the Murchison Mountains, South Island in 1948. 
  • Today’s population is around 260 birds at various sites including the Murchison Mountains in Fiordland as well as the pest-free islands Tiritiri Matangi, Kapiti, Mana and Maud and mainland sanctuary of Maungatautiri, near Cambridge.
  • Some takahē have lived for over 20 years in captivity, but in the wild few would live to more than 15 years of age. 
  • Since the 1980’s, DOC has been involved in managing takahē nests to boost the birds’ recovery. Artificial incubation of eggs and rearing of chicks is carried out at the Burwood Bush rearing unit, Te Anau, where five pairs are held to form a small breeding group. 

(Taken from http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1208/S00260/tiritiri-matangi-island-loses-iconic-bird.htm and posted in memory of Greg the Takahe, who died in August.)

You can read more about the Vote Takahe campaign here and join the campaign on Facebook.

Tuesday Poem: Prove You Are Not A Robot, by P. S. Cottier

Prove that you are not a robot.
Affirm android is what you’re not.
Prick a digit, we’ll watch the blood flow
(though nanovamps may swim, and grow).
Indicate a lack of chips embedded –
that you are only fleshy headed,
with just the right amount of brain
to reason, love and feel all pain.
Now fill in the code that we select –
words unknown to mortal intellect.
Quickly, for we’re losing time –
our batteries run down at nine.

Credit Note: This is an original poem by P. S. Cottier and is published here by permission of the author – and if you have not already done so, you should check out her blog.

Tim Says: The first time I saw the command to “Prove that you are not a robot”, I suffered a prolonged period of existential dread. Might I, in fact, be a robot? Might there be telltale signs? How could I prove I wasn’t?

P. S. Cottier did something more useful. She wrote a poem – and here it is. I really like it.

The Tuesday Poem: One does not simply walk into The Tuesday Poem. One clicks.

Voting Now Open: Vote Takahe for Bird of the Year 2012

It’s on! Forest and Bird’s 2012 Bird of the Year competition is now open – and this means that you can Vote Takahe right now, and encourage all your friends (and enemies) to do likewise!

Here is where you can vote: http://www.birdoftheyear.org.nz/

While most of you will understand that the takahe is just naturally cooler, sexier, and more electable than any other bird, there might be a few people who are wondering what’s in it for them. Read Friday’s announcement of the takahe campaign below and you’ll have your answer – and if you’re still a swinging voter, check back later in the week for a Vote Takahe FAQ that will answer questions you didn’t even know you wanted asked.

Friday’s announcement

What: Every year, the excellent conservation organisation Forest and Bird holds its Bird of the Year competition. The 2012 competition opens on Monday 10 September. And this year, I am the campaign manager for the rightful winner of that competition, the takahe.
Photo: Steve Attwood
Who: Yes, the takahe. There’s one, right there, comin’ at ya. It’s the pukeko’s bigger, cooler, rarer cousin. And the news that the pukeko won the 2011 competition? The takahe isn’t taking that well at all.
Why: There are a lot of reasons why you should vote for the takahe, and I’ll be telling you all about them over the next three weeks. Here are three to start with.
1) The takahe is a survivor. It was thought to be extinct for more than half a century – but it wasn’t, and one determined naturalist, Dr Geoffrey Orbell, kept looking for it until he found it in the Murchison Mountains of Fiordland. When he clambered up the mountains and found them, the takahe just kept on going about their business. They didn’t throw a big party or anything.
2) The takahe is beautiful. Just look at those gorgeous feathers!
3) If you don’t Vote Takahe, it might peck you on the knee. True story: A takahe once pecked a photographer friend of mine on the knee as he was photographing it – this was in the days before the general public had access to takahe, as they do today, e.g. at Zealandia and on Kapiti Island. He kept taking photos. The takahe kept pecking his knee. And I lived to tell you the tale.
When: The competition opens on Monday 10 September and runs for three weeks.
How: You’ll be able to vote for the takahe online from Monday onwards. Vote early. Vote often (am I allowed to say that?). Tell your friends to vote, and use social media to pimp out these important hashtags: #votetakahe and #birdoftheyear. I’ll be tweeting like a bird that tweets – takahe don’t tweet, because they’re far too cool.
There’ll be plenty more to come during the campaign, including a set of Frequently Asked Questions about the Takahe that I’m just about to make up. There will be more photos, some actual facts, and a comparison of the takahe with the honey badger. Keep checking this blog, keep voting, and keep watching the skies!*
*But not for takahe – they’re flightless.

Vote Takahe for Bird of the Year 2012

What: Every year, the excellent conservation organisation Forest & Bird holds its Bird of the Year competition. The 2012 competition opens on Monday 10 September. And this year, I am the campaign manager for the rightful winner of that competition, the takahe.

Photo: Steve Attwood

Who: Yes, the takahe. There’s one, right there, comin’ at ya. It’s the pukeko’s bigger, cooler, rarer cousin. And the news that the pukeko won the 2011 competition? The takahe isn’t taking that well at all.

Why: There are a lot of reasons why you should vote for the takahe, and I’ll be telling you all about them over the next three weeks. Here are three to start with.

1) The takahe is a survivor. It was thought to be extinct for more than half a century – but it wasn’t, and one determined naturalist, Dr Geoffrey Orbell, kept looking for it until he found it in the Murchison Mountains of Fiordland. When he clambered up the mountains and found them, the takahe just kept on going about their business. They didn’t throw a big party or anything.

2) The takahe is beautiful. Just look at those gorgeous feathers!

3) If you don’t Vote Takahe, it might peck you on the knee. True story: A takahe once pecked a photographer friend of mine on the knee as he was photographing it – this was in the days before the general public had access to takahe, as they do today, e.g. at Zealandia and on Kapiti Island. He kept taking photos. The takahe kept pecking his knee. And I lived to tell you the tale.

When: The competition opens on Monday 10 September and runs for three weeks.

How: You’ll be able to vote for the takahe online from Monday onwards. Vote early. Vote often (am I allowed to say that?). Tell your friends to vote, and use social media to pimp out these important hashtags: #votetakahe and #birdoftheyear. I’ll be tweeting like a bird that tweets – takahe don’t tweet, because they’re far too cool.

There’ll be plenty more to come during the campaign, including a set of Frequently Asked Questions about the Takahe that I’m just about to make up. There will be more photos, some actual facts, and a comparison of the takahe with the honey badger. Keep checking this blog, keep voting, and keep watching the skies!*

*But not for takahe – they’re flightless.

Tuesday Poem: And yet it moves, by Helen Heath


And yet it moves                                  Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

you say of the earth
      – not the sun around us.

You cannot close your eyes
to the view at the end

of the eyeglass. Faith
is not a veil. Eyes drawn

to the stars, the suns, again
and again for years until

they burn through your lenses
twin black holes, one for each eye.

The dark slowly spreads.
The inquisition judges heresy,

commands a recant, wants blind
allegiance from a man in the dark

so you recant, muttering
and yet it moves.

Credit note: “And yet it moves” was published in Helen Heath’s collection Graft (VUP, 2012) and is reproduced here by permission of the author.

Tim says: I’ve just finished reading Graft, and while I enjoyed the whole collection, the highlight for me was a number of wonderful poems about science, scientists and the history of science – other include the prizewinning Making tea in the universe and Night’s Magic. This poem about Galileo Galilei elegantly captures the great dilemma of his life.

The Tuesday Poem: You can read the hub Tuesday poem on the Tuesday Poem blog, and all the other Tuesday Poems are linked from the sidebar to the left.