Bio
Ian Reid grew up in New Zealand and now lives in Western Australia. The most recent of his 15 books is a novel, The Madwoman's Coat. His poetry and other work has been widely published in several countries, winning awards (e.g. the Antipodes prize) and being translated into five languages.
Ian Reid
Finally
Take your future for a walk
past residues of stone-wrapped lives.
Pick your way along the rows
of epitaphs, all that survives
to tell us who these remnants were
or what they meant to anyone.
Block after block of memories
bleached bone-white by a blazing sun
show how stony time can be,
how pitiless, how unforgiving.
Fragments buried here knew once
what it felt like to be living.