Tim Jones's Blog, page 7

New poem: Pneumonia

About the last few months...



My father

After he fell, he crawled, his bedan agonising hour away. Next morning,he wanted nothing more than water.
The ambulance was quick and smooth,but admission took forever. In ED, we watchedas the trolleys trundled slowly by.
Later, a ward, a bed of his own. Floor 5,visiting hours, the path to his roomtrodden into the base of my skull.

Two weeks of partial progress, then collapse.Called to Hutt Hospital to watch him fade away.
He rallies, asks about the cricket;

I tell him, smile, hold his hand. He fades again.
“It isn’t looking good,” he says. I nod. The nurseswhisper, “Sleep somewhere close at hand.”

The call comes at 5am. By the time I’ve dressedand driven over, it’s too late. Five minutes earlier,he left his ninety-four years of life behind.
They leave me with his body and the gentle pushto clear the room, remove the corpse, pave the paththat starts with mortuary and ends in funeral.



An interlude
So much work. The funeral went well,after that scare about the payment. The estate:he chose wisely, bringing the professionals on board.

And his house. It seemed so bare, until we hadto empty it inside a month – that deadlineself-inflicted, an own goal worthy of the Phoenix.

So many journeys in his little car, brave tiny engineconquering the motorway. Emptying Naenae,filling Mt Victoria with clutter and memories.


Then me
As soon as we finished, pneumonia got me too,grace note to a hard spring cold, breath short and shallowing, heart racing to keep up.

Ambulance, hospital. Gentle and angry nurses,kindness and rough treatment. A doctor who finally -
finally! – paid attention. Antibiotics prescribed
and a day later I’m discharged, back homeconfused, dependent and weak, showing allthe self-control of a fretful baby.

Now perhaps I’m two or three. Emotionsflare and burn and dim. In the sunshine,
I take small steps, sit down, cry
at small and stranger things. A gradualrecovery, while outside, the worldpoints birds and insects at my ears,
suggests I could be getting on with things,tests the limits of my energy, invites me to rejointhe long descending trudge towards my end. You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Poetry Collection Launch: "Homeless", Poems by John Howell, Tuesday 10 October, 5pm, Wellington Central Library

I've heard John read a number of these poems, and discussed others with him. I think this will be a really fine collection of poetry, and I'm looking forward to attending the launch.

What's more, all profits go to a great cause - DCM Wellington.



If you can't make the launch of Homeless, you can order a copy through Mākaro Press.You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

I'm Guest Poet at Poets to the People: Sunday 24 September 4–6pm, Hightide Cafe, 43 Marine Parade, Paraparaumu Beach. Should be fun!

From Poets to the People Newsletter

Our next event: Sunday 24 September 4–6pm, Hightide Café, 43 Marine Parade, Paraparaumu Beach

We welcome Tim Jones as our guest poet. His poetry collections include Boat People, All Blacks’ Kitchen Gardens and Men Briefly Explained, and his latest, New Sea Land (Makaro Press, 2016). He was the guest poet in Takahe 89 (April 2017). His interest in science fiction is reflected in short story collections and poetry anthologies Voyagers and most recently The Stars Like Sand: Australian Speculative Poetry, co-edited with P S Cottier (Interactive Press, 2014). He was the recipient of the New Zealand Society of Authors Janet Frame Memorial Award for Literature in 2010.

Open mic from 4pm.

$5 entry.

P2P dates for your diary

October 29: guest poet Chris Tse

November 26: guest poet Mary Cresswell

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Elizabeth Coleman and Michael KeithYou can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Why I've decided to party vote Green this election

After some careful thought, I've decided to party vote Green this election - and give my electorate vote to my excellent local MP, Labour's Grant Robertson.

In my view, the present National Government has exhibited a disastrous combination of complacency and stupidity, especially on issues such as the environment, climate change, water quality, poverty, transport and housing, and I'm desperate to see the back of them. At this election, for the first time in nine years, it seems they face the real prospect of defeat - now Labour has finally selected a leader that stands for the future rather than the past.

So why am I going to give my party vote to the Green Party, not Labour?

Because, on the issues I care about most, the Labour Party's actual policies still lag well behind Jacinda Ardern's exciting rhetoric. And because Labour's past record in Government has shown that, given the choice, they usually back off from making the big changes that are needed, for fear of offending one constituency or another.

Jacinda Ardern has called climate change 'the "nuclear free moment" of this generation. I agree. In my view, we are now in a climate emergency. But Labour's climate change policy tells a very different story.

In 2009, James Hansen wrote a book titled Storms of My Grandchildren, about the massive storms he expected his grandchildren to have to endure if greenhouse gas emissions weren't sharply reduced. But if he re-released this book in 2017, he'd need to call it "Storms of Us", because - in Edgecumbe, in Mumbai, in Bangladesh, in Houston, in the Caribbean and in Florida - we are now experiencing those storms.

They are already bound to get worse in response to continuing greenhouse gas emissions, but the world still has a chance to prevent them - and sea-level rise, and fires, and sheer heat - become civilisation-ending. But we must act to quickly reduce emissions, act to prepare ourselves for the consequences of climate change, and act now.

And while leadership matters, policy - the things a party says it would actually do in Government - matters too.

Sadly, Labour's climate change policy and its more detailed climate change manifesto come nowhere near matching up to Jacinda Ardern's inspiring rhetoric. Far from a vision of bold action, this is a cautious, incremental, not-stepping-on-any-toes policy, a policy that allows the mining and drilling of the fossil fuels that are cooking the planet - coal, oil and gas - to continue unchecked.

In contrast, the Greens' climate change policy captures the necessary urgency. A Labour-Greens Government is much more likely to take the necessary action on climate and a range of other issues than a Labour Government with Winston in its ear.

Every vote for the Greens helps the election of a Government that will tackle the major challenges facing this nation. And that's why I've decided to party vote Green this election.You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Readings This Month: Poetry At The Fringe on the 17th, Poets To The People on the 24th

Just before we get to the readings: My review of James McNaughton's New Zealand science fiction/climate change novel Star Sailors is now up on Landfall Review Online.

I have two readings coming up this month: First, I'm reading with Harvey Molloy at September's Poetry At The Fringe in Wellington - Sunday 17 September, 4-6pm, Fringe Bar, 26-32 Allen St., with Paul Stewart as the guest musician and an open mike to kick things off.

I'll be reading some poems from my latest collection, New Sea Land (about climate change and sea level rise), plus some of my new poems about music and musicians. Come along!


A week later, on the 24th, I'll be the guest poet at Poets to the People - which starts at 4pm at Hightide Cafe, 44 Marine Parade, Paraparaumu. I'm told there's a great open mike at Poets to the People - I hope to see you there! (Poster and further info to follow for this one.)You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Poetry Day 2017, 25 August: Wellington and Hutt City Events

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Palmerston North, Here We Come! - Poetry Reading Friday 21 July

You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Dan Davin Literary Foundation – Short Story Conference September 2017

I'm presenting a paper at this conference - alongside some rather distinguished writers and academics - scary but hopefully fun! I'm really looking forwards to it.




Register here: http://www.dandavin.org.nz/dan-davin-conference-2017.html

Dan Davin Literary Foundation – Short Story Conference September 2017
The Dan Davin Conference on the New Zealand Short Story – its traditions and departures – will be held 1-3 September 2017.

The conference is an opportunity to celebrate Southland-born author Dan Davin as one of the fathers of the modern New Zealand short story, and the development of the New Zealand short story to today. The short story has always been of significance in New Zealand literature, and continues to be an important form of writing.

Some of New Zealand’s foremost writers of the genre including Owen Marshall, Dame Fiona Kidman and Tracey Slaughter will attend.   Janet Wilson will be key note speaker. It will be the first conference for many years devoted entirely to the short story and its place in New Zealand literature.

The programme will begin on Friday 1 September with the annual Dan Davin Award presentation – this is a local Award in three categories – junior and senior student and adult. Janet Wilson will give the key note address focusing on Dan Davin’s war stories while also touching on Katherine Mansfield and examining the New Zealand-overseas and international frames for reading and interpreting short stories with a local origin.

Saturday 2 September will be held in the drawing room of Invercargill’s majestic Civic Theatre. Throughout the day papers will be presented from a variety of writers and academics. Dame Fiona Kidman, Owen Marshall and Tracey Slaughter will present papers as well as participate in a panel discussion with Janet Wilson. Saturday evening will be a chance to relax and enjoy some local entertainment and cuisine.

Sunday 3 September will begin with a bus trip to Bluff and the magnificent Te Rau Aroha Marae where you will be welcomed onto the Marae and into the Wharenui and treated to the stories of the carvings. This will be followed by several more papers and finally a delicious lunch featuring Bluff’s famous seafood.

For those able to stay into the afternoon (which we highly recommend) the bus will take you to Stirling Point and Motupōhue (Bluff Hill). And then you will head out to Riverton to visit Southland’s thriving coastal community.

For more information and to register visit our website: www.dandavin.org.nz




Dan Davin Short Story Conference 1-3 September 2017
Presenters List

Majella Cullinane
A Foot In Two Countries: Writing Short Stories as an Irish-Kiwi


Paula Morris
Short Story Writers or Readers?


Tom McLean
The intended audience of mid-twentieth century New Zealand short stories have been relatively little discussed.


Thom Conroy
‘Images that Wouldn’t Leave’: A Typology of Pleasure in Tracy Slaughter’s Short Fiction


Anna Smith
Ghosts on Dee Street: Scaring the crap out of the short story


Tim Jones
“Below the Thunders of the Upper Deep": The Visibility and Invisibility of New Zealand Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror


Frankie McMillan
'Every sentence, every phrase, every word has to fight for its life.' - Crawford Kilian


Craig Cliff
The moves in contemporary New Zealand short stories


Rebecca Styles
‘Show don’t tell’ and endings


Katie Wilson
Short stories of Phillip Wilson


James Eunson
Ballard of a Scarfie: A Love Letter to the Dunedin Literary Scene


Maggie Rainey-Smith
Reading short stories in prison


Kevin Ireland
Putting a gloss on a glossary


Keynote Speakers:

Dame Fiona Kidman
Digging for Truffles: Why New Zealand short story anthologies are important.


Tracey Slaughter
‘Something Very Red Comes Very Close’: Intensity and Short Fiction


Janet Wilson
Imagining New Zealand/Aotearoa; A Century of the Short Story


Panel Discussion:

Topic: Short Stories – How We Make ThemChair – Paula Morris
Panel – Dame Fiona Kidman, Tracey Slaughter, Janet Wilson and Owen Marshall
Register here: http://www.dandavin.org.nz/dan-davin-conference-2017.html

You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

My story "The Bycatch Child" is in Sponge Issue 1

I've been so busy lately that there are various bits of news I haven't blogged. Time to start catching up!

* My story "The Bycatch Child" is published in the first issue of Sponge, a new New Zealand speculative fiction magazine. Check out the lovely cover:


I've also recorded an audio version of the story for Sponge - I'll update this post once that's up.

You can also follow Sponge on Twitter.

You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.

Tuesday Poem: Messiaen Among The Dinosaurs

Messiaen Among The Dinosaurs
1. Old man with a notebook
They find Messiaen entranced in the magic hourbetween dawn and the day’s heatwandering the woodlands, skirting marshes,annotating the contrasting calls
of pipit and nightjar. For many hourshe has been walking the forest fringes, lostin the ecstasy of birdsong, until scientists,deferential, insistent, come to fetch him home.
“Tell me again,” he says, Loriod holding his hand. “Your Institute’s machinewill carry us backwards in timeto the epoch of dinosaurs, yes?
And you wish me to join you,travel back, transcribe their calls?”
2. Such exotic birds
In the fern-enchanted glade, the composertranscribes the calls of these gigantic birds,their plumage flaring glamorouslyalong high necks and feathered rumps.
His guards are restless, watchessynchronised to the end of their brief window, when time will snap back 120 million yearsto the basement of the Institute,
fluorescents crackling overhead, experimentersblinking like owls in the light of their return.But Messiaen sits timeless, notebook on his lap,oblivious to danger, the forest alive
with death’s roar, life’s fluting cry,the staves and quavers of the dinosaurs.
3. At Clichy-la-Garenne
Death, three-clawed, yellow-eyed,stalks the garden at Clichy-la-Garenne.In the pale spring sunshine, notebookfallen at his feet, sleeps Messiaen.
Loriod is at the piano, practising Réveil des dinosaures for her next recital.The notes attenuate among the criesof great and lesser birds.
The authorities closed down the experimentwhen the consequences became known.Messiaen kept only memories, scores, scales,the eggs he grew to fierce companions,
and the hymns of praise that throughout timehave soared from feathered throats.
Credit note: "Messiaen Among The Dinosaurs" was published in takahē 89. I'm reading that issue right now and there is lots of good stuff in there!

Tim says: After my poem about Dmitri Shostakovich's visit to America, which actually happened, I take the bird-obsessed Olivier Messiaen on a more science-fictional journey this time round. Why do I do these things to my favourite composers??

The real-life Messiaen, Yvonne and Jeanne Loriod, and Messiaen's remarkable music are all well worth exploring!You can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.