JENNY BORNHOLDT
Photograph
A little to the left
Neil, that’s nice, and
John, if you could come in
a bit, good, good,
now Neil, if you can turn
your body, this way,
yep, just a little, yep,
now turn your head
to me, yep, that’s
good. Now Humphrey,
chin up a bit, up,
good, John, if you can
come in closer
to Michael, good,
more, yep, Neil back
a bit, one step, turn
just a little, yep,
now Humphrey,
chin up, turn to the side
a bit, bit more, yep
good, Neil, Neil, back
a bit, yep, Humphrey
chin, Neil, closer Michael,
John, in together, turn
and now, yep, good,
chin Humphrey, closer,
turn, closer, Neil
John, Humphrey, chin
Humphrey, John, Neil
closer, closer, turn,
yep, now
Jenny Bornholdt has written seven books of poetry, including a selected poems: Miss New Zealand. Her most recent book is Summer, written in 2002 in Menton, France, when she held the Meridian Energy Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship.
She is the current Te Mata Estate New Zealand Poet Laureate.
With her husband, poet Gregory O’Brien, she has edited: My Heart Goes Swimming:New Zealand Love Poems (1996); and An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English (1997).
Bornholdt comments: ‘ “Photograph” was written after I was fortunate enough to be chosen as an Arts Foundation Laureate of NZ in 2003. Before the awards were announced, the five laureates - composer John Psathas, sculptor Neil Dawson, actor/director Michael Hurst, furniture maker Humphrey Ikin, and me - spent an afternoon being photographed. It took an extraordinary amount of maneuvering to get us all into position - not only once, but over and over again during the afternoon. It was all very enjoyable, however, due to the good company.’
Links