Siobahn Harvey poem nominated for major US award

NZ poet, editor,literary activist Siobahn Harvey has had one of her poems, ‘Tooth’ ,which was published in the American magazine, Asheville Poetry Review this year nominated for The Pushcart Prize.
The award honours the best of poetry, fiction etc published in small presses in the US during the year.

Details about The Pushcart Prize can be found at http://www.pushcartprize.com/ or at Wikipedia.
The Pushcart Prize’s founding editors included Anais Nin and Joyce Carol Oates.

When I approached Harvey with the news she said she was " stoked because it’s proof that a poem from and about New Zealand can travel far and wide".

And here for your pleasure is the nominated poem:

Tooth


Today, you’re twelve teeth old,
and we fossick for shells,
star-fish, pipi and paua

until the tide goes out
when we wave goodbye
to yachts moored in the marina.

At home, you float
across polished floors
until you to keel over.

Your jaw leaves an alveolus
in the matai deep enough
for a tear-drop’s caress.

As I stroke you,
your eyes collect water;
your gums are an ocean of blood.

But only when you’re sleeping,
do I discover a tooth
anchored to blue woollen blanket.

Suddenly, you’re eleven teeth old
and have grown, like Lazarus,
younger beneath moonlight.

White and hull-shaped,
the tooth’s a boat,
isolated by low tide.

In the morning,
I’ll show you how it can rest
safely upon its starboard.

© Siobhan Harvey PO Box 125 135, St Heliers Post Office, Auckland 1740.