Writing about Molly Morpeth
Canaday/while bears wander by
on their way to hibernate
I wonder when I did this. Sometime
before 1978–9, when I started painting
on hardboard. It was more robust.
Janet Paul would prefer Berlioz to Billie
Holiday but I like to picture her
patiently writing every
time I listen to “Moonlight in Vermont.”
There’s Joanna, looking over Magdalena’s
shoulder. Somehow I know good writing
welcomes, includes small children of
all ages.
There’s Pirongia. And the freezing 4am
platform at Frankton Junction, Blackwood
and her waiting for their friends to
turn up. With real coffee, good cheese
and paté, empathy. And news. About other
postwar people pushing the boundaries.
“Two men were talking about us on the
other side of the wall of Hamilton Hospital.
If they had a gun, they most wanted to kill
us.” Thank you Janet for your loving
welcome to your family, when I came back.
c.1977 acrylic on paper 830 x 590 mm