Poetic Licence – Nicola Easthope’s cricket poem

Rob Hack’s poetry column, Poetic Licence, in Paekakariki Xpressed newspaper, featured the following poem from A Tingling Catch by Nicola Easthope. The poem is notable for its mention of current cricket hero and New Zealand captain Dan Vettori. The stanza on Vettori first appeared in Harry Ricketts’ How to Catch a Cricket Match published by Awa Press:

NICOLA EASTHOPE

How does your sun?

In Alison Holst’s sunset

the sea creams like butter

wind serrates the shallows

on the earth’s warm crust

For Daniel Vettori, the sun

dips over a shimmering pitch

knocks out distant island stumps

spins on towards the clouds

As the sun sets for Mel Gibson

Berocca slips into blue tequila

fizzes like a wave retreating

the night devoid of stars

My sun is a broken speed limit

cycling down Paekakariki Hill

a red disc burning up the town

plunging into the rapturous sea

Poem © Nicola Easthope

(from Paekakariki Xpressed, Friday September 17, 2010, p. 14)