I’m a Best New Zealand poem!

Hooray! My astronaut poem, Earthrise, has been chosen by Vincent O’Sullivan for Best New Zealand Poems 2014! You can see it (and all the others) here. (Go take a look. It’s a great resource.) I’m feeling quite chuffed about it. I had a lovely time writing it, and doing research around the first forays into space. So when Sue Wootton chose it last year to appear in JAAM 32, I was delighted. But being chosen as one of the 25 best poems of last year … even better. (Not least because I’ve never been picked for BNZP before.) And to add a sprinkle of chocolate to it all, one of Brian Turner’s poems that I published in takahē 83 has also made it in. Hooray again!

But don’t fret, dear readers. In case you worried that I was in danger of getting conceited about this run of successes … I yesterday got a rejection letter from Landfall. (The only consolation – and it’s a big stretch – is that I only sent two poems, whereas I usually send six. So having a ‘no, thank you’ to two poems is perfectly normal, and not at all reason to sit down and cry into my hot chocolate …)