Good Luck

GOOD LUCK is an extraordinarily impressive first collection of poems. A section of superbly crafted short lyrics is followed by two major long poems: a sequence of historical lyrics on the Napier earthquake; and an innovative long poem on the colonisation of the Pacific, constructed from found texts.

CHILD
When I think of you
I imagine your sharp eyes
finding a coin on the footpath,
the curled fist of your body
bending to pick it up, your small hand
shutting close as a purse
around it.

You spend it
in the dairy, smiling at the woman
who swaps your windfall
for a chocolate bar.
I imagine you clicking the coin
on the counter, your face
turned up, telling her
your story about good luck.