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BooksJuly 21, 2017

The Friday Poem: ‘Bruce Willis You Are The Ghost’ by Hera Lindsay Bird

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New verse inasmuch it’s previously unpublished, but really it’s old verse cos it was written ages ago, by Wellington writer Hera Lindsay Bird.

Bruce Willis You Are The Ghost

It’s not that your wife doesn’t love you. It’s because you died and now you are a ghost and she can’t hear you talking to her. That time you saw her taking off her wedding ring? It’s because you’re her dead husband and she can’t continue to mourn your absence with heterosexual jewellery indefinitely. Stop haunting her already, Bruce Willis! Bruce Willis, it’s hard to be a ghost and not know you are a ghost. Haven’t you noticed that the only person you’ve talked to in a year is a supernaturally gifted child? Don’t you think it’s weird your wife just cries alone in the living room every night, rewatching your wedding tape and never looking or speaking to you? Don’t you remember being fatally shot in the stomach at the beginning of the movie? Walk towards the light, Bruce Willis. Walk towards the light.

Hera Lindsay Bird


The Spinoff Review of Books is brought to you by Unity Books.

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BooksJuly 21, 2017

The Unity Books best-seller chart for the week ending July 21

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The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the galaxy.

NOTE: The Spinoff’s mystery bestseller commentator is off on a hike or something, leaving this week’s list stripped of furniture. But the important details still remain.

AUCKLAND UNITY

1 A Horse Walks Into a Bar by David Grossman (Vintage, $26)

2 No Is Not Enough: Defending the New Shock Politics by Naomi Klein (Allen Lane, $35)

3 The Power by Naomi Alderman (Penguin, $26)

4 Iceland by Dominic Hoey (Steele Roberts, $35)

5 The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38)

6 Black Marks on the White Page edited by Witi Ihimaera & Tina Makereti (Vintage, $40)

7 Men Without Women: Stories by Haruki Murakami (Harvill Secker, $45)

8 Known and Strange Things: Essays by Teju Cole (Faber, $33)

9 Art Sex Music by Cosey Fanni Tutti (Faber, $40)

10 Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse (WW Norton & Co, $31)

WELLINGTON UNITY

1 New Animals by Pip Adam (Victoria University Press, $30)

2 Our Future Is In The Air by Tim Corballis (Victoria University Press, $30)

Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38)

Home: New Writing edited by Thom Conroy (Massey University Press, $40)

Power by Naomi Alderman (Penguin, $26)

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo (Particular Books, $40)

No Is Not Enough: Defeating the New Shock Politics by Naomi Klein (Allen lane, $35)

8 Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) by David Sedaris (Hachette, $38)

9 Totara: A Natural & Cultural History by Philip Simpson (Auckland University Press, $75)

10 Rise & Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland (Borough Press $37)


The Spinoff Review of Books is brought to you by Unity Books.