Recently I met a lovely poet called Ila Selwyn who told me about a poem she had written using words and phrases from my novel City of Reeds. The words come from the last section of the novel, where Clare is walking around Thames, saying goodbye. Ila has generously allowed me to post her poem on my website, so here it is:
growing up down-under with my kids
a found poem, bits and pieces plucked
from Tina Shaw’s novel, City of Reeds
crushed onion weed lies heavily
on a summer’s breeze
roman sandals and scabbed knees
games beneath the oak trees
elastics and skipping
boys brutal with motorised toy cars
the swing in the pepper tree
legs hooked around the rope
sitting on the top of the tyre
rain water and mosquito larvae and
rotting leaves swinging with pigtails
on the gate of your childhood
a cabbage tree leans
into a stark blue sky
the lanquid heat of summer
redolent with manuka
eleven years old and walking the bush track
in sandshoes shorts
‘stay together’ ‘safety in a group’
have you got the bandages?
the astringent smell of mudflats
assaults your face
running hair flying feet
tapping along the concrete path
screeching ‘mum mum, she took my dolly’
in winter river fog hanging fat and heavy
round the lamp-posts and
the trunks of trees
in summer waiting for your dad
cotton shorts and broderie anglaise blouse
hanging off the gate
like it might support you
for ever
