Who is Wendy Nu?
Wendy Nu is a dreamgirl. Literally. She came to me in a dream, up near Spirits’ Bay.
Or rather, in the dream I heard other people talking about her – she never actually appeared.
That morning, when I woke up, I got two poems: not in my manner, I thought, but hers.
Later, I began to get some images of her: dark, perhaps Chinese? – serious, successful, driven – an artist drawn to extremities, and kitsch. Her obsession with pop-cult campiness (The Partridge Family, Peter Pan) is a bit out of my vein, though I can see where she’s coming from.
She came into this poem, jostling for space with Britney Spears.
Only Celan proved too tenacious to dislodge.
ISBNs should not be given to ephemeral printed materials such as diaries, theatre and concert programmes, prospectuses, etc.
– NZ Standard Book Numbering Agency Fact Sheet
Nouvelle vague
whenever &take spirite hottest
peep showeverywherebrothers and sisters
we the workersin townwe can
oobs buttsmeet ourand the poor
best friendwilld something
in betweennaturedestroy to
createnbelievabletake a
magic momentsgrip ofunlock the labs
steeringopen doorpeeps
Ah l’aThings are more alive than peoplel’Islam
rabesquesack rolling in frontn’est pas
le nuof trafficune religion
sans lasqueegee twirled aroundde doute
volupthe cassette that kept turningcomme la
tétill you’d had enoughnôtre
il y a
de la
certi
tude
[first published in Landfall 202 (2001): 111].
