Selected by our Poetry Columnist, Gill Ward
Here is a well know Bub Bridger poem has been online and published widely. I love it.
Bub came to poetry when she was 60. Lived in Wellington and was much beloved by many. Her poetry is plain but deep, accessible and sympathetic.
By that I mean you (especially women but not only women) can identify with practically everything she write.
She has the gift of being able to be funny and poignant at the same time.
She loved Wellington and this is a very Wellington poem. It is from her 1989 volume Up Here on the Hill and ha! a very Wellington title!
Wild Daisies
Bring me flowers
Wild daisies
Clutched in your fist
Like a torch
No orchids or roses
Or carnations
No florist’s bow
Just daisies
Steal them
Risk your life for them
Up the sharp hills
In the teeth of the wind
If you love me
Bring me daisies
That I will cram
In a bright vase
And marvel at
Bub Bridger (Ngati Kahungunu)
(From “Up Here on the Hill“, Mallinson Rendel, Wellington, 1989, Edited by Annabel Hawkins)