A year ago today I was standing in front of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre museum in Paris with my daughter, speaking to my ex-partner (my daughter’s father) via FB Messenger, reassuring him and telling him to take deep breaths, to trust the doctors, and to have faith. He was about to witness the […]
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New Zealand’s appalling youth suicide rate is in the news again, as is our impotency in the face of it. A new UNICEF report has found New Zealand’s youth suicide rate – teenagers between 15 and 19 – to be the highest of a long list of 41 OECD and EU countries. The usual culprits […]
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In honour of World Poetry Day (which was actually yesterday), I thought I would re-publish three of my own poems – poems that are dear to me in very different ways. The first I wrote for my daughter, the most precious thing in my life. It tries to capture those moments in the wee small hours […]
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As some of you know, I have one child – not by choice. I wrote about my struggles to have a second child and my experience of recurrent miscarriage and secondary infertility in this article, which was published in a New Zealand magazine last year. I wanted to share my journey for selfish reasons – cathartic […]
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My six-year-old daughter was invited to a party this weekend. The little birthday girl is a delight and I would have loved Miss B. to attend. After checking out the venue online, however, my partner and I decided we had to decline the invitation. Club Girly Girlz hosts parties for young girls centred around getting made […]
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It is Miss B’s birthday today. I wrote her a poem not long ago (see “My daughter’s bedside, 3am.” Today, however, I bow to the superior talent of New Zealand poet Denis Glover (Dec 1912 – Aug 1980). For you, my darling daughter. Happy Birthday. Brightness I am bright with the wonder of you And the […]
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Mothers Day (tomorrow in New Zealand) is always special to me. I am so proud to be a mother, and so very grateful. I wrote this poem today. My daughter’s bedside, 3am You are far away, somewhere mothers cannot follow. But I am near; so near your breath is my blanket. It won’t be long until the […]
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OMG, my daughter (Miss B.) has beaten me to it. She’s written a book. And it’s good. Gripping, even. She disappeared to her writing corner the other day with paper, a pen and a determined look. More than an hour later she emerged, ink stains on her fingers and that slightly wild look on her face that […]
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