11 Apr 2020

Gregory O'Brien: poetry in isolation

From Saturday Morning, 11:40 am on 11 April 2020

Could all this isolation be sparking a flowering of the nation’s poetic creativity?!

Certainly if the Saturday Morning inbox (sample size: 1) is any guide there’s never been such an outpouring of poetry. So could the experience of self isolation perhaps be the key?! 

The author, artist, and poet Gregory O'Brien reckons poets are isolation specialists by nature, and New Zealand poetry is full of great self reflective moments. 

Although heading into the wilderness on foot or by bike isn’t to be encouraged at the moment there’s a long line of poets, from Allen Curnow to Keri Hulme, from James K. Baxter to Janet Frame, who have found inspiration and solace in being alone, inside and out.