Reading the Signs

(Paperback)

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The poems in Janis Freegards new collection take their starting point from the poets daily ritual of reading the tea leaves while writing in the Ema Saik room in the Wairarapa. This leads to unexpected discoveries about the world around her, from spider visitors to the writing room and a papyrus-fine gecko skin in the nearby wildlife sanctuary, to news of the ancient bdelloid rotifers that defy natural disasters and the recently extinct amphibians that did not. Then a gender- and species-fluid interpreter turns up to help the poet work her way through the daily revelations in her tea cup Reading the Signs is a series of linked poems that are thoughtful and humorous, provocative and tender, and come together as a quiet epic about a planet that is fast running out of puff.

Author Bio

Janis Freegard is a Wellington poet, novelist and short story writer. She has won a number of awards including the Geometry/ Open Book Poetry Competition and the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award, and she was the inaugural Ema Saik Poetry Fellow in the Wairarapa. Janis performs with the Meow Gurrrls poetry collective.