Cilla McQueen, Bluff's internationally renowned poet, is taking part in Southland's only Montana Poetry Day festivities on the 22nd of July. She has kindly agreed to let us publish here the beautifully-quiet poem To a Poet from her new collection Fire-penny.

Cilla McQueen, Bluff's internationally renowned poet, is taking part in Southland's only Montana Poetry Day festivities on the 22nd of July. She has kindly agreed to let us publish here the beautifully-quiet poem To a Poet from her new collection Fire-penny.

To a Poet

I was in the middle
of your poem on the internet
when the electricity went out.

You disappeared and left me
mid-sentence in the darkened room,
whereat I lost the gist

and wandered out to the kitchen to poke the fire.
I cannot tell whether you resolve
the unspoken thing,

or whether it will return to haunt us.
In the sudden darkness
I was leaning towards you

impossibly far, stroking
your temple and whispering
incomprehensible fragments -

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Cilla McQueen, Fire-penny, University of Otago Press, 2005

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Montana Poetry Day marks the publication of Cilla McQueen's tenth volume of poetry, Fire-penny. Poems in this collection range from observations of life in Bluff, to snapshot reconstructions of life on Scotland's remote St Kilda Island.

She will be launching Fire-penny at the Eastern Southland Gallery in Gore from 5:30, Friday 22 July. This is a free event, and all are welcome.