Bio
Ruth has recently retired which means her garden and writing are finally receiving the attention they deserve. She's the instigator of Lilliput Libraries - there are now 390 throughout New Zealand - and was the editor of Poems in the Waiting Room (NZ) for its 13-year lifespan. Poetryinmotion is Ruth's latest passion – arranging collaborative projects with poets and artists of all mediums.
Ruth Arnison
After the last breath
I play with crosswords and sudokus, but there are no words
to fill the gaps, and nine is an elusive number.
The guy at the door collecting for a local charity senses my loss.
He leaves kind words and empty-handed.
Room-drifting I pick up, put down, rearrange, reposition,
desperate for a place to offload confusion.
Not hungry, but searching for color I gather fruit into a salad,
thumb fumble the bowl.... juicing the kitchen floor.
Instantly an angry mad, hot-water-fill-a-bucket, add janola, down
on my knees, scrubbing-the-floor furious explosion sets me off.
I'm ironing board, thump, thumping crinkled-clothing crazy,
sun-streaked window washing looking-worse-than-ever sobbing,
push mowing, daisy slaughtering, lawn butchering, tearing
full tilt down and up, across and back until, slamming indoors,
exhaustion collapses me into a corner, cushion-hug howling
for him, myself, and all the world's sorrows and losses.