Milk and Honey

Michele Leggott

• Publisher: Auckland University Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781869403348
• eBook ISBN: 9781775581239
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism in Poetry
• Index: Literature

Deft word play, allusion, and quotation meet intense images and stirring rhythms in this compendium from one of New Zealand's top poets. The verse in this demanding body of work represents a step forward—it contains a sense of a wider world beyond the pages and enough substance to yield pleasure over many readings. Lovers of words, verse, and rhyme will find delight in this distinctive collection from a poet further developing her voice and her craft.

1

to open the eyes

so far

on the first day of October

in a city without hot water

the temperature climbs to 31 degrees

and I

in a room with full-length mirrors

wash like an odalisque petalled self

on the tiled floor, diffuse light

as of jalousies or halogen

keeping the frescoes chalky

2 spruiking

for love’s boy on a pavement

covered by fallen blossom

victorious armour

washed away in the night

endless headlights bearing

one avenue to another

three thousand solar showers

have been purchased

since the explosion

3 the fire-eater juggles

torches knives an iron ball

five teeth missing by the river

his bride sings a cappella

veils tied to a balcony railing

fructus ventris fructus sanctus

white laburnum on the river path

warble on a bike

who will enter the shadows

under the bridge at noon?

4 the tests are successful

and service may be resumed

sooner than expected

I live like Utnapishtim in the distance

six floors up in a confluence

where Burnton meets Jolimont

that is how we got here

the trains wake me before dawn

each day is a bird in another place

5 Ingres fingers on the sidewalk

was she done, his shrieking Medusa

before the rain in the night?

bookstores stay open coffee is cheap

light falls in the Shrine of Remembrance

as if one body lay sleeping

on the cumulus of another

champagne sustains the wait

as urns are sent from kitchen to tub

elevators groan and whirr

6 it was a translation I brought back

nothing but guesses with expensive names

at wrist and throat I gained

two hours of sunlight

clouds of words

dispersed at the edge of space

a kiss disappearing off the page

I will never print again

7 days of purification

signs in the sky

pretty mountain rites

rigmarole of the hours

you were lucky

I was very lucky

a feral girl without hands

a green flame

before the invasion

loving till it hurt

8 I smiled at the poet

and bought lunch in the white cafe

his new book lay on the table

he talked of past and future works

and of the device he would carry

for one other’s call

farewell poet

may you never be alone or unhappy

may your archives download safely

into tomorrow

9 John Lennon is 59

IMAGINE – somebody

encountered this week

could become one of the most

important people in your life

over the next two months

don’t reject new contacts

just because they don’t meet

your normal st...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Wilderness
• 1 To Open the Eyes
• 2 Milk and Honey
• 3 Fado
• Wild Light
• Back Cover