New Zealand poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh marks the very fine and wonderful occasion of the birth of a daughter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford.

Jacinda and Clarke and the Baby and Us: A Rondeau

The baby’s here, the baby’s here!

Aotearoa, New Zealand, what a year!

Jacinda, our partnered and pregnant world first

Has, this 125 Suffrage year, given birth

To a wee girl so dear

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Women are extending the frontier

In Census 2018 let’s be clear

And count the ways women in the stats have reversed

The baby’s here, the baby’s here!

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Patsy, our Governor General is near

Sian’s our Chief Justice, Lianne’s Christchurch Mayor

Jenny and Carmel for Labour (but Winnie came first)

Marama co-leading Greens, another burst

But the real labour has happened, let’s be clear:

The baby’s here, the baby’s here!

By Selina Tusitala Marsh, June 21, 2018

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

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