Margaret Jeune’s 2020 NZ cricket poem

Margaret Jeune is a contemporary New Zealand poet and photographer. She has published about 8 publications of poetry, some with others. She has also published a book of her photographs.

In 2020 during the period of bush fires in Australia and the summer cricket season, Jeune wrote a poem about New Zealand and Australian cricketers called ‘Brotherhood’.

It’s a nice, short piece depicting the concern shown by New Zealand players for their Aussie counterparts outside the field of play. It was published in The Cricket Society News Bulletin in England that year.

MARGARET JEUNE

Brotherhood

Black clouds drift across the sky
The wind has blown smoke across the Tasman Sea
From the massive bush fires in Australia
The tragedy is depicted daily on the TV News
It is translated into a visible poignant reminder
Of what is happening in Australia
An Australian cricketer is interviewed on the radio
He says that he is lucky to play international cricket
While so many of his fellow Australians are suffering
The New Zealand cricket captain says that losing to Australia
Is put into perspective by the sheer scale of suffering in Australia at present
This tragedy is unfolding in front of our eyes

Poem © Margaret Jeune

This poem is in Jeune's Selected Poems available internationally online at lulu independent bookstore Shop the Indie Online Bookstore | Lulu.