Ashleigh Young

Guest writer

Ashleigh Young is the author of two poetry collections, Magnificent Moon (2012) and How I Get Ready (2019), and the essay collection Can You Tolerate This? (2016).

Who are you, Jerry?

Who are you, Jerry?

Ashleigh Young writes about a cat she loves deeply and knows not at all.

By Ashleigh Young | 1st January, 2023

Image: Tina Tiller

Essay on Sunday: Something that wasn’t the moon

I have clung to the notion of 'dimensions beyond our perception' for a long time.

By Ashleigh Young | 6th November, 2022

The perfect New Zealand tweet doesn’t exi–

The perfect New Zealand tweet doesn’t exi–

Our national psyche revealed in <140 devastating characters.

By Ashleigh Young | 6th May, 2022

The Sunday Essay: Jerry

The Sunday Essay: Jerry

Ashleigh Young writes about a cat she loves deeply and knows not at all.

By Ashleigh Young | 3rd April, 2022

The Sunday Essay: My dreams on antidepressants

The Sunday Essay: My dreams on antidepressants

Even now I think of the dream in which I was using a cigarette lighter to melt my own father.

By Ashleigh Young | 22nd August, 2021

A very clever and good metaphor for which neither Chris nor Ashleigh is to blame.

Breaking verse: There is a new editor of the Friday Poem

A chat with departing Friday Poem editor Ashleigh Young and incoming Friday Poem editor Chris Tse.

By Ashleigh Young | 24th July, 2020

Photo: Getty Images

Lockdown letters #26, Ashleigh Young: On celery soup and KFC skin

For a few weeks we haven’t been able to escape each other or ourselves or our own terrible cooking.

By Ashleigh Young | 21st April, 2020

Getty Images

Lockdown letters #21, Ashleigh Young: Avoiding the loaves

On writing and not writing about bread.

By Ashleigh Young | 16th April, 2020

(Photo: Getty Images).

Lockdown letters #16, Ashleigh Young: On going for a walk

'It feels like there is an inner circle of walking that I can no longer break into, some pleasure I have become too stupid to feel. Maybe it’s the internet’s fault.'

By Ashleigh Young | 11th April, 2020

Getty Images

Lockdown letters #11, Ashleigh Young: Reaching for the cherries

'When you reach for the exact same thing day after day, your grasp on everything else in the world loosens.'

By Ashleigh Young | 6th April, 2020