Tuesday Poem this week is from Helen Heath's Graft.

 Freshly released this month, Wellington poet Helen Heath's first collection Graft (VUP) is the source of the poem at Tuesday Poem, selected by Helen Rickerby. 'Postcards' is a long poem at the heart of the book, and Helen R has extracted some of it to showcase on the international poetry hub. 

 She says: In this sequence the narrator is visiting Greece, seeking something (in the sequence that follows – 'Graft', we learn more about what that is). In ‘iv. Greek for Travellers’ we get phrases as if from a phrase book – and, as humans do, we join things up to make a story. The sharp-eyed humour mixed/contrasting with deep and sometimes painful feeling is a combination you’ll find quite frequently in Helen’s work.

Helen R talks about how science and empirical study are a big part of the collection - and ... she points out that the Hutt features too - including a girl in ugg boots (both Helens are Hutt girls it seems). It's a fascinating post about a fascinating book and poet. Recommended. And after that, go into the TP sidebar to find a host of other poems written by the 31 poets there or posted by them - work by poets they admire. Helen Heath features again - then there's George Eliot, Ursula Bethell and other delicious offerings going up as you read this from poets in NZ, Australia, the UK, the US and Italy.