Cafe Sonnets
Gary Langford
ISBN: 978-0-473-17704-1
Softcover chapbook, 24pp
Cafe Sonnets amalgamates the recent work of the writer Gary Langford and the artist Roger Hickin. These 16 sonnets were written and performedin two cafes in Christchurch and Melbourne, reflecting Gary’s burgeoning interest in these short forms of intense language. On the Beast is a work that he has performed frequently over the years, now a sonnet on his mother. His writing often merges the serious with the comical as he does in the Sonnet Trilogy and Life Trilogy. Rooted ends, ‘time is happy,’ a fitting description of Cafe Sonnets.
Gary Langford was born and grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand, went to Canterbury University and was a teacher/writer in Sydney for 30 years. He now lives in Melbourne and Christchurch. He is the author of 25 books, including 9 novels and 9 books of poetry. His most recent books are Lunch at the Storyteller’s Restaurant (stories) (Hazard, 2002) and Rainwoman and Snake (poetry) (Steele Roberts, 2010). Gary Langford reading from his poems (poetry CD-Rom) (www.poetryarchives.org) was recorded at Tandem Voice Booth, Christchurch,
in 2008. Presently he is coordinator, NZ Poets, The Poetry Archives, England.
Cold Hub Press ~ Gary Langford
freepost per copy – national & international
price NZ$19.50
Rooted
Time leans on us, regardless of how we are cast.
Think of the number of cups you have drunk from.
Imagine them across playing fields; tripped up.
As we are by statistics, 400 kilos of sugar a year,
brushed up, blown out over the field.
We nod brightly; dignity is a pale star.
We earnestly believe we will take off,
without a tremble, without turbulence.
Suddenly we are taken aback; roots form.
The soil beneath our feet gives way.
Worms are watching us closely,
crawling over each other to love us.
We are dug in and rooted overnight,
crumbling in the dawn. Time is happy.
© Gary Langford 2010
