Category: Aotearoa
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September and awareness
September may always be a difficult month for me, due to most of the world running on the Gregorian solar-based calendar system. Dates, as I’ve written about in A Counter of Moons, take on an entirely altered shape when you’ve birthed a child who then took their life. September marks…
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Abundant August
I’ve been thinking a great deal about gratitude this month. The etymology of the word dates back to the mid 15th century, and comes from Medieval Latin for ‘thankfulness’. I realise ‘gratitude’ is used a great deal in our vernacular, and at times it can feel overused or tokenistic. But…
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July, the month of busy
July has been an extraordinarily absorbing time, editing work for the next Elixir & Star Press (ESP*) Grief Almanac a liminal gathering 2. The work feels both bittersweet and necessary; I guess you might say this is my calling, walking in the world as a suicide bereaved mother who is…
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Winter Solstice updates
First off, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who takes the time to read my posts (having subscribed to them), who’ve engaged with rocks in my pockets (the new podcast), and purchased books. It’s infinitely more meaningful to me to hear from you, rather than the anti-social nature of what’s…
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Silence that Speaks
Last month, I had the privilege to be part of a panel discussion speaking to suicide and the arts, with Nadine Anne Hura, Hendrix Hennessy-Ropiha and Susan Wardell (moderator). This was a collaboration between Flash Frontier’s Roundtable Series He mutunga | Endings and the Centre for Medical Humanities, University of…
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Giddy-up
The year of the Fire Horse has kicked itself off with several exciting things of note, my loyal readers. In other words, giddy-up, let’s go, and onwards we trot. Tahi. One. 1. More Than This My writerly friend Debby Curreen, has lovingly curated a remarkable anthology of creative work by…
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Twenty Twenty Six
2026 has begun with a shift in my creative energy, particularly within the realms of grief work and open-hearted conversations with other bereaved people. The small indie press I founded in 2023, Elixir & Star Press, is set to open for submissions soon, for a second New Zealand grief anthology.…
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Earth Heart (poem & audio)
This weekend, I worked on a few new things, revising the plethora of work-in-progress; like scouring the bones of a building after a fire. It was a surprise that the words for ‘Earth Heart’ came to me like a download – I love it when that happens. ‘Earth Heart’ reminds…
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The dichotomies of grief
This year’s theme for World Suicide Prevention Day was “changing the narrative around suicide”. How can we do this, when there’s no way to sugarcoat suicide bereavement? It’s not a thing you survive; this kind of grief accompanies you for life. I’ve attempted to challenge “the narrative around suicide” by…
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Te Moana o Reo (audio)
Heartfelt thanks and aroha to Paula Green at NZ Poetry Shelf, for inviting me to read my piece Tōrea, alongside these other awesome writers in Te Moana o Reo.