Michele Leggott

Michele Leggott’s sixth collection of poems, Mirabile Dictu, will be published in June 2009 by Auckland University Press, together with an audio CD of selected poems produced by Braeburn Studios, Wellington. Michele continues to coordinate the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre (nzepc) at the University of Auckland and is the Inaugural New Zealand Poet Laureate 2008–09.

Leggott comments: ‘ “the liberty of parrots” is the result of a red letter day last April when photographer Tim Page and I climbed the University of Auckland clocktower, known locally as the Wedding Cake (it’s white with fine neo-Gothic detailing). One thing led to another and by the end of the morning we had found two elephant skulls and a sweet briar said to be the oldest rose in the country. In terms of poetry, the morning offered many fine leads which I began to follow up.

Poem: the liberty of parrots

Links

Trout 15: the liberty of parrots

New Zealand Poet Laureate’s blog: The ohakune elephant, 29 September 2008

Michele Leggott in the clocktower (photo by Tim Page, 2008)