Bio
Jeremy Roberts is a resident of Napier, Aotearoa-New Zealand, where he lives with his wife and daughter. He MC's at Napier Live Poets, interviews poets on Radio Hawke's Bay, and is poetry editor for the VINES journal. His work has been published widely - including NZ Listener, Landfall, Takahē, JAAM, Poetry NZ, and Phantom Billstickers. Jeremy has performed and recorded poems with musicians in Aotearoa, Austin, Saigon, and Jakarta. His first poetry collection was 'Idiot Dawn' (poems 1981-87). 'Cards on the Table' was published in 2015 and 'The Dark Cracks of Kemang: The Bajaj Boys In Indonesia' was published in 2022, by IP Australia. He was awarded the Earl of Seacliff poetry prize in 2019. https://www.read-nz.org/writer/robertsjeremy
Jeremy Roberts
Texas Harmony
There's got to be true love in Austin,
staying at the Hotel San Jose –
with Elvis on the wall,
and a poem by Ch'ien Ch'i.
Where – if you blow Pan pipes,
a guest will knock on the door
to pass on a compliment,
and as you eat a heart-shaped, shortbread biscuit,
you meet an out-of-work guy who plays harmonica
under a bridge,
all day long.