The Tuesday Poem - Wild Daisies by Bub Bridger

.. Wild Daisies by Bub Bridger If you love meBring me flowers Wild daisies Clutched in your fist Like a torch No orchids or roses Or carnations No florist's bow Just daisies Steal them Risk your life for them Up the sharp hills In the teeth of the wind If you love me Bring me daisies That I will cram In a bright vase And marvel at by Bub Bridger (Ngati Kahungunu), "Up Here on the Hill", Mallinson Rendel, Wellington, 1989 Edited by Annabel Hawkins Bub Bridger emerged on the poetry scene when she was 60 following a trip to Ireland; “I returned from New Zealand and I couldn’t get it down fast enough and I haven’t stopped”. There is a stripped back lyricism in Bub’s words which I adore, or perhaps it is the sentiment of them that resonates with me the most. As though you hiked up some hill in the back blocks of Wellington alongside her, your breath heaving, and thought, ‘yes, it’s really as simple as this’. It is easy to get caught up in the complexity of what we can say, as writers, wordsmiths, poets, people, whoever. I like what Bub has done with flowers, perhaps the simplest form of metaphorical expression, and used them as a vehicle to her heart. It really wants you to cut out any romantic bull**** doesn’t it. I often wonder if this poem, which I first came across as a framed, hand-written note on my mother’s side table as a child, is what my own romantic endeavours measure against. A wild daisy or two. Don’t we all? Tuesday Poem: Wild Daisies by Bub Bridger