Sunday poem: The attack on Baghdad, by James Norcliffe

2026-03-28 - 16:04

in the evening a rising wind knocked the black peaches from the laden branches one by one they dropped and some fell into the roses where thorns tore at their flesh and some fell onto the bank and rolled down towards the river gathering dust and bruises the dark sand was stained black with peach blood and when wasps arrived and were excited the air crackled with their lust Taken with kind permission from the recently published collection A Day Like No Other: Selected poems by James Norcliffe (Otago University Press, $25). Christchurch writer Erik Kennedy said in his launch speech, “The poems are relevant, psychologically compelling, quietly and loudly political, concerned with history and our place on the planet and in the cosmos. A Day Like No Other brings into focus just how frequently he shoots for and hits the difficult, high-value targets.”