Date of Birth: 1942
Location: New Zealand
Email: stone@ulster.net
Website: http://cconrad.freeservers.com/index.htm
Published In: The Oxford Book of Modern New Zealand Verse (ed. by Vincent Sullivan), The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry (ed. by Ian Wedde), The Alsop Review, Conspire, Kookamonga Square, Moondance, The Bloomsbury Book of Women Writers, etc.
Book: this fig tree has thorns
FOR STONEKING - CHRISTMAS EVE NIGHT - 1996
once i would've died
at the sight of wrapt presents
in wet hands
i ripped them open
fingered each fatal object
doll
snake
silver necklace
doll
with staring eyes
malicious smile
bright pink legs
snake shot up
the stick
once
fell
in a heap of damp paper
i longed for a pedal car
red tin body
hanging over a gate
i knew a girl
thin as a sugar stick
said the devil was everywhere
she ate with her mouth closed
hair shaved up the back
lived at the home of compassion
i thought it was where they kept
dried up passion fruit
starless
christmas eve night
in the polish house
great cakes are baked
iced in coffee & chocolate
a black stove
with a guilty mouth
gapes
at white
mutinous
mushrooms
tender ears
drop
into blood red borsht
starless
christmas eve night
i call
i hear
the sound of your house
the gold hand from mexico
knocks
i have
been
sweet
i have been
loving
i have been
hateful
i have been
starless
christmas eve night
you do not walk
over
the
water
