.jpg)
Sport 35: Winter 2007
Matthew Boyd Goldie
Matthew Boyd Goldie
Here's the Nose and Here's the Belly
after Allen Curnow's Introduction to A Book of New Zealand Verse, 1923–45
Precedent, here or elsewhere,
Has been no guide in planning this poem.
I'm cutting my losses
And providing some ground
Upon which the worth of the verse
Can be estimated.
Only in that way can we get nearer
The traditional relationship.
I have tried to include,
To serve, in NZ, what I take
To be the purpose of good verse
In any country. The reasons why
Are displayed more amply
Than is usual, simply that we have
Many. Their works need to be read.
The Class of 1982
The tuatara of love
The knob of fiction
The shed of plainness
The oarsman of securities
The skald of earliness
The beanie of premonition
The whanau of thrift
The sail of beauty
The ruck of principles
The dowry of disclosure
The minority of respect
The Wankel of unpleasure
The silverside of regret
The soil of disintegration
The yoke of four and above
The paddy wagon of influence
The withdrawal of expedience
The hatchery of pliance
The X of evidence.