Sarah Jane Barnett
Sarah Jane Barnett was born in Canterbury in 1977 and now works as a heritage professional and writer in Wellington. Her work has appeared in a range of literary journals, such as Landfall, Sport, Takahe and JAAM and on the e-zines Blackmail Press, Deep South, Snorkel and Turbine. During 2006 Sarah completed a Masters in Creative Writing at Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters. She is currently finishing her first book.
Barnett comments: ‘The title of the poem refers to The Drop Distance Table, a document used by the US Army to calculate the drop necessary to successfully hang a man based on his weight and height. Although the poem was sparked by my strong reaction to the film Capote, since studying Plato’s simile of the cave I have always been interested in the way we create our own reality, to the point where we believe our own illusions. It was the first piece of philosophy that truly made me question my reality and also gave me an understanding of why literature can be so powerful.’
Poem: The Drop Distance
