Wellywood Woman

When, finally, the Minister announced her name, I cried. And cried again as she approached the podium. Stopped crying when she started to speak. She creates magic behind the microphone, as well as on the page. You’ve guessed it. I’m thrilled that Cilla McQueen’s the new poet laureate. I always think of Cilla as courageous. I remember her Aramoana protest work for instance (like the image above: Graffito on Miller & Tunnage fence, Port Chalmers: “The Sweet Slag Song of Aramoana” 1980). And there she was, in a Stuff interview this morning, coming out as a writer and artist who lives ‘below the breadline’. Her poet laureateship, first of all, will help her pay the bills. Just last week, I spoke with an artist who sounded desperate about his power bill in this harsh winter. A little earlier, I’d written about women artists, especially “the older ones who were part of the women’s art movement, who on this very cold morning (like me) wear many layers of clothing, hats, gloves and scar

It’s been a wild time. The tomato plant that grew through last winter, by the compost heap, continues to fruit through this one. There have been so few sunny days that I haven’t been able to finish pruning the apple trees. And I’ve been struggling to finish my thesis. The inside of my head feels a bit like these pics. Messy. Unsure whether to fruit, to ripen or to prune. Or to keel over into the compost. But a great time for New Zealand women’s films. Sunshine Cleaning as a WIFT fundraiser at Park Road Post, with Christine Jeffs talking about working from Matakana. And Bright Star opening the New Zealand International Film Festival ( my response here ). And now The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls will join Bright Star and The Vintner’s Luck at the Toronto International Film Festival. ‘Pure fun. Pure love’, a programmer said. I think it’ll take the world by storm.