Nicola Easthope's ancestral roots lie in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, England and Wales. She was born in London, grew up in Wellington and lives with her partner and young daughter on the Kāpiti Coast. Since high school, Nicola has been active in environmental, social justice and peace movements. She worked for Greenpeace Aotearoa for a number of years, was a teacher, and is currently the Kāpiti Enviroschools facilitator. leaving my arms free to fly around you, Nicola's first collection of poetry, was published by Steele Roberts in 2011.
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Shall I spend this evening
with a NASA climatologist
(with) out running is time
(with) out running is time
with a Bestseller
and chocolate
two squares
for my Inbox
or watch YouTube
on coal seam gas
Squares honey,
not rows.
Two,
not four.
I’ll do hip rotations
& belly eights,
pelvic shimmies
& deep womb chants,
stretch cobras
poke a lion face,
shed darkness
from my preciousness.
In the white scorpion night,
I’ll breathe in peppermint
at the back door,
slip down down
the garden track,
close the leaves
over new cauli heads.
Hey, can you hear?
Winter’s wing-beats
just eleven days away.
Here, pull up a chair.
Wedge this wrapper
beneath the short leg.
Snap off
Bitter sweet sweet
bittersweet.
* Dr James Hansen, head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and climate physicist, New York City
Roll call
Line up.
Operation Smiling Buddha "
you’re not all here
where’s
Hiroshima &
Nagasaki
the hairs on the back of your neck
the pit that once led to your mother
each fibril of your sorry body
take that cotton wool out of your ears
keep your head down
keep your hair on
shield the eyes in the back of your head
my down- winders
my terrible beauties
all skin and silent bone.
