TUESDAY POEM THIS WEEK WELCOMES NEWCOMER RACHEL O'NEILL, EDITOR BOOK AWARD FINALIST SARAH JANE BARNETT

This week Early Growth is the Tuesday Poem and it's by newcomer Rachel O'Neill - her first collection of poetry due out soon, published by Hue & Cry who published Book Awards' finalist Sarah Jane Barnett. Sarah is TP's editor this week. She introduces Rachel thus: 

'Rachel O’Neill is a writer, visual artist and editor based in Paekākāriki on the Kapiti Coast. Her writing has appeared in a range of publications, includingBest New Zealand Poems 2011, Paper Radio, the inaugural The Long and the Short of It competition book published by Sport and Unity Books, and issues ofTurbine, JAAM, and Brief. She completed a conjoint degree in English and Sculpture at the University of Auckland (2005) and a Masters in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern letters (2008). Her debut collection, One Human in Height, will be released by Hue & Cry Press this year. O'Neill also blogs at Little Disturbances.'

The poem begins: 

At her party the boy runs best with the hard-boiled egg. During
the obstacle course she meets him at the bird feeder on top of
which raisins are scattered. ‘I’m a bird,’ she nibbles and the boy
really does bob and nod.

And continues here. 

Also this week, NorthWrite is running a second post on the writing collaboration called Tuesday Poem. This time it's about their birthday poems.