Long poems at the heart of Tuesday Poem this week

 The Tuesday Poem blog this week hosts five verses from a hundred verse sequence by NZ poet Richard Sturmer called The Book of Equanimity Verses. The work is inspired by The Book of Equanimity, a Zen Buddhist collection of one hundred koans. Editor Harvey Molloy says, 'The sparkling intelligence at work in these poems is shaped by Zen poetic forms and Zen practice. Richard's poems acknowledge a greater reality, an awareness of a spiritual power or energy that flashes through the poems and provides both the poet and the reader with a knowledge or insight that can only be expressed within the poem.' 

After reading the hub poem, blog readers are invited to read the Tuesday Poems linked to in the sidebar, posted by an international community of up to 30 poets. This week, there is a brilliant long poem by Jenny Bornholdt from her latest collection  called 'Poem about a Horse'. Wellington poet Sarah Jane Barnett - a self-confessed lover of long poems - has posted the poem, which is terrifically playful and domestic and surreal all at once. Another brilliant long poem can be found on the Booksellers' site, this time by Serie Barford who recently won the Seresin residency. 

Not long, but definitely playful, is The Language of Cat by Rachel Rooney, as is Metamorphosis by Australian Susan Fealy which uses the language of birds, and epic poet Zireaux' playful blog introduces the reader to a poem by Einstein (as well as a verse of his ongoing epic poem). Tim Jones and Alicia Ponder, almost always playful, take us to the stars and zombie teenagers respectively. 
Tim is also featured on Helen Heath's blog with an intimate poem on summer. There is so much more besides, including a new poem by Kapiti's Mary Cresswell and - to finish with the opposite of a long poem - a strong haiku by Orchid Tierney. And as Tuesday rolls by, there will be more posts by the US and UK poets. Come and see.