It’s always interesting to hear what poems particular poets admire. This week, we hear from our judge for the Open category – Lynley Edmeades – who has nominated a poem to share with us. It is a poem she loves as much now as when she first read it.

The title of the poem is “The Thing” by NZ poet Louise Wallace. Click here to read it before learning why Lynley likes it so much.

This is such a great short lyric poem. It has so many layers: linguistic, personal, and cultural. It is so superbly balanced: just enough detail to keep me interested, a little bit of the personal (but not too much that I get bored), and that kick-in-the-guts ending that turns me back on myself in the perfect gesture of irony/confession. It doesn’t try too hard; it’s technically adroit but not showy at all. There’s nothing in there that doesn’t need to be. It’s a tip-top piece that I love just as much now as when I first read it some years ago.