Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.

General

A poem for these times

I’ve had the library’s copy of Playing God by Glenn Colquhoun (2002) out for a week or so and have been reading it in the evenings. Colquhoun is a doctor who writes poetry and this collection is out of his medical experiences here in NZ. Like most poetry I struggle with it sometimes but on the whole I have found his poems engaging, challenging and refreshing. Today I saw his poem about Asthma and it fitted in with life just right.

The poem ends with the lines

This small boy has a flock of birds
let loose inside his chest.

And quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
the magpies said.

The last part is from a poem by Denis Glover

Here’s a link to Colquhoun’s bio and “To the girl who stood beside me at the checkout counter of Whitcoulls bookstore in Hamilton on Tuesday” (Overseas readers substitute in the name of your local stationer/bookseller for Whitcoulls.) (Also I’ve bought many books in the Hamilton Whitcoulls)

And another to his poem “Bred in South Auckland”. Another that captures Auckland life.