Untitled 404
(After a Cindy Sherman Photograph)
“Once upon a time I had many ideologies
And by ideologies I mean specific ideas about things other people should
and shouldn‘t do
But proving yourself right is a bad career
Then you have to prove yourself even righter, in a blue satin pantsuit “
#poemsbeforephones
I have come back from the dead to tell you that I love you
By Hera Lindsay Bird
“I lie underground, sprouting flowers like a rural Liberace
my tumours like pink bells ringing into oblivion,
I have come back one last time to look at you
Your beauty is heavy on my eyes, like tiny anvils
I have come back to our house on the last day of summer
I have come back to say I love you, and I‘m sorry for being dead”
#poemsbeforephones
Waste My Life
By Forugh Farrokhzad
“I never read the Russians but I have read most of the Babysitters Club
I can‘t remember the meaning of poetry
other than it‘s a broken telephone
with which to call the dead
and tell them a joke”
#poemsbeforephones
I Want To Get High My Whole Life With You
By Hera Lindsay Bird
“O this feeling has drenched my bones
and turned my skeleton pink
with you I feel my mind changing
with you I feel my blood changing
I want to get really good at woodwork
I want to get really good at woodwork
and go into the forest
and cut some logs
and make you a beautiful house to live in”
#poemsbeforephones
Speech Time
By Hera Lindsay Bird
“Poetry is a luxury behavior
Like crying because you‘re too clever and nobody understands you
It‘s like cutting your hand at a party and referring to your blood as ‘party blood‘
It‘s like: welcome to good behavior town, population 0”
This poem is in a chapbook (first time I heard that expression) - Pamper Me To Hell and Back. It is not in the Litsy database.
#poemsbeforephones
This is one of two books by the author that have been chosen for Florence (of Florence and the Machine‘s) Book Club. It was not available in the US, so I ordered it from England. A very slim book. Not in Litsy database yet, but the tagged book is the other selection for the Book Club-@betweentwobooks on Instagram. #bookmail
so-soI rarely read any poetry, so I feel like a lot of this collection was wasted on me but when a poem grabbed my attention it really stuck with me. I can't say I'll definitely read more by the poet in the future, but I won't avoid it either.
I'm trying to read more widely this year, and here's something I've almost never read - a poetry collection, and by a Kiwi author too!
pickCheekily wicked, clever, funny, with a unique view of and usage of familiar poetic tropes! Loved it.
Hera Lindsay Bird | 
