No Disposals Cilla McQueen

Cilla McQueen

To the 640,000, Awaiting Disposal

By no means spineless, but disabled by
outdated language, fact, philosophy,
untouched for years, it seems you must succumb
to culling.

Books! Like to the dragon’s teeth
that Cadmus sowed, rise up in mutinous tracts!
Battle for wisdom’s jewel, stir trouble!

McQueen

Cilla McQueen, poet and artist, lives in Motupōhue, Bluff. She was the 2009-2011 NZ Poet Laureate and in 2010 was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry. Recent works include Poeta, new and selected poems (2018) from Otago University Press, and Qualia (2020) from Maungatua Press.