The vet and her nurse arrive about 4
for the monthly clip of Poppi’s claws.
(My arthritic hands won’t). ‘How was
your Open Day?’ I ask. ‘Very good.
How was your book launch?’ ‘Lovely!’
Pity they clashed! We invited each other
before we realised. Poppi herself is glad
my book launch is over. Preparing for that
took time she’d have preferred I spend
with her – lately, strangely, it almost seemed
I must have forgotten her supreme importance.
The first friend I ever made
here in the Caldera – 29 years ago! –
brings me for late birthday / early xmas
a surprise hamper, chosen with thought
for a new vegan. Pesto, chocolates,
crackers, mixed nuts and seeds,
mayonnaise, plum jam, olive oil …
all organic in one-person sizes, and
a cake of scented, hand-made soap –
along with a hug that was a mutual
happy-dance, thrilled for my triumph.
As well as purchasing my new books.
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Frankie arrives for the weekend,
carts all the books for the launch
down my front steps to her car
bundle by bundle by bundle,
cooks me a tasty vegan casserole
she prepared at home (though she
isn’t vegan) and makes me laugh a lot,
over a glass of cab merlot (organic).
Then we both decide on a good rest
before all the fun we expect tomorrow.
Driving into town, I realise: at my book
launch I’ll see all these friendly faces! I
say as much to one friend who works in
the pharmacy, as I pick up my meds.
When I walk out, there’s a big white
feather across my path, which wasn’t
there when I went in.
‘Hello, Yasoda,’ I say, picking it up. (She
told us before she passed that this would
be the signal by which we’d know she was
around.) ‘You’d have been there with bells
on, wouldn’t you?’ Then I think – well,
maybe she still will.
the love of friends –
made visible, tangible
by their presence
Home and straight into a sarong.
Refresh the wet cloth around my neck.
Book-launch venue double-checked.
Legal deposit copies posted. Bit by bit.
Earlier today I phoned my pal Frankie.
She listened to me wail awhile,
then said: ‘What’s working?’
Ah! Quite right. So much is.
The world, or this part of it, hots up.
At the same time, my book launch date
hurtles closer, with so much preparation
still to do. Is it any wonder I’m in a lather?
Our little town’s rich with poetry!
Today, so many people crammed in,
the bookshop nearly burst its walls.
We in the audience responded fully
to the words read aloud: laughed
together at some, fell deeply silent
in the aftermath of others. Poetry
moves us, fills us, reminds us
who we are.
‘So much art!’ said my son
and his partner on a visit, after walking
around, looking in shop windows. ‘And
crystals and complementary therapists!
This isn’t your average country town.’
