The Interview Rose

Elizabeth Smither

• Publisher: Auckland University Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781776712311
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

In her twentieth poetry collection, Elizabeth Smither brings together a new ensemble of surprising images and charismatic companions. A herd of cows gathers around a radio to listen wide-eyed to a Mozart concerto. A frog leads us unhurriedly down the garden path. Jane Austen' s Emma makes an appearance. A cat critiques Wittgenstein. And a flamboyant fabric rose rescues a job interview. Each poem in The Interview Rose is a bridge between the private self and the physical world, travelling the long route through art, religion, philosophy, and the pleasures of language.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• The frog
• The fish
• Two poems about cows
• The cat and the Wittgenstein quotes
• 100 brushes of a cat
• The moon that harms animals
• Houses on the hill
• The knowledge in grass
• Buying the peony Henry Bockstoce
• Daisies
• Walking on sodden ground
• Silver Street
• Handbag
• The Armando Caruso handkerchief
• A wedding dress for Guy Fawkes night
• Three brides in boxes
• The vacuum cleaner robot
• The travelling reliquary of St. Teresa of Ávila
• A room of Madonnas
• The angel of death
• Making up half-a-face
• Late afternoon before a birthday New Year
• The Etruscans
• Degas and the dancers
• Ruby approaches a cello
• Jane Fairfax’s piano
• Falling in love with Emma
• Learning from Emma
• Emma’s hand
• Love at the Gare du Nord
• Fairy lights
• The fashion in embraces
• I wish I’d been a Frenchman
• Requiem
• Venus
• De-stringing beans
• Cilla and oysters
• Too many là là làs
• The tux boys and the bare girls
• Chairs
• Reading
• Elinor Dashwood tells lies
• A box for short poets
• Choosing a book for Ruby
• Veranda or verandah
• In Sacred Heart College library
• The interview rose
• The interview confession
• Mark Doty: a footnote
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Back Cover