The Friday poem: “My Father’s Waistcoats”, by Sam Hunt

04 Jul 2016
Culture
Poetry-Shelf

Poetry for the soul

New verse by  Kaipara poet Sam Hunt.

 

My father’s waistcoats

 

My father’s waistcoats

never had pockets.

 

It was years later

someone explained

 

a good lawyer in court

didn’t need notes…

 

I never went with the law

like my father would have liked.

 

But I got to swing juries –

like he said – swinging the lead.

 

I never rode into town

like I’d like to have done.

 

But I carry a gun

in my head.

 

Salt River Songs (Potton & Burton, $24.99) by Sam Hunt is available at Unity Books.

 

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

Sam Hunt

Sam Hunt remains the most outstanding lyric writer in New Zealand verse. His first book of poems From Bottle Creek was published in 1969; his most recent book Salt River Songs was published in 2016. Sam was born in Castor Bay in 1946.

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