Poems for Remembering by Mike Beveridge

Down by the Salley Gardens Down by the Salley gardens my love and I did meet; She passed the Salley gardens with little snow-white feet. She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree; But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree. In a field by the river my love and I did stand, And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs; But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears. William Butler Yeats Black River      The first time on Black River’s bank I had the upper hand, Unasked for, as I gently spoke where we stood on black sand. A terror had caught hold of her, strong as the fast dark flow; She begged me swear I would stay true;   I swore it would be so.     The next time on Black River’s bank I knew what must occur; My witless body had betrayed my heart, my mind, and her. She spurned my touch, she cursed me twice, she turned away in grief; I stared alone d...

  Generosity, Intelligence and Love in the Poetry of Mike Beveridge An obituary in The Post newspaper on Tuesday 13 July 2023 informs us that “ Mike Beveridge died at 3 pm yesterday. He chose the time. He chose the place.” Among scholars, Beveridge is best remembered for Conversation with Frank Sargeson: an interview with Michael Beveridge (published in Landfall 24 while he was a post-graduate student at the University of Canterbury and which is still required reading for students of New Zealand literature at university level), for a series of short stories in Islands and Landfall during the 1970s and 80s and for having been the 1989 Grimshaw Sargeson fellow . To most residents of Nelson, however, he was indelibly associated with Everyman , a second-hand book and record store that he founded with a partner in 1975, the fame of which spread throughout New Zealand and even worldwide over the forty-or-so years of its existence. Even so, the rougher and readier coevals of the ca...

Poet chooses when to die