PHILOMENA JOHNSON

Persistence

Forget all they have told you, forget
              the disbelievers—this,
what is being attended to now, the words 

on the page, this is what matters—
              and the families
of Canada geese who live by the estuary, 

a persistence of parents who call
              their young across the gravelled bund,
down the rocky bank, and into their element. 

Philomena Johnson lives where the river meets the sea right beside Te Ihutai Avon-Heathcote Estuary, Ōtautahi Christchurch, where she gets to walk by water every day. She graduated in 2017 from The Hagley Writers' Institute, where her portfolio was short-listed for the Margaret Mahy Award. Philomena won the John O'Connor First Book Award in 2024 for her manuscript not everything turns away,published by Sudden Valley Press. Her poetry has appeared in The Quick Brown Dog, The London Grip, takahē, Fuego, and a fine line, as well as in the anthologies broken lines / in charcoal, Voiceprints 4, and The New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology 2024. Philomena tutors at the Write On School for Young Writers.

Johnson comments: 'I often find myself contemplating why it is I do what I do and why it matters. Writing matters. Paying attention matters. Not just in writing but in life too. Canada geese are extraordinarily attentive parents. They know what they are doing and they do it with an attention of which, sometimes, I am jealous.

'"Persistence" went through a number of drafts before finding its final footing. It was suggested to me by a mentor that perhaps the original poem was in fact two poems. So, I cut the first half out. A powerful thing, that, to say less.'

​Poem source details >

 

​Links

Philomena Johnson's Sudden Valley Press author page