With the help of Graham “Bookman” Beattie, we’ve launched an open invitation for writers from around New Zealand to send us words for Christchurch. The first piece – received minutes after the invitation was offered – is from Paula Green, a West Auckland poet, children’s author and reviewer.
February
We feel far away
Someone is watching a movie and someone is choosing sushi
Someone is leaving a building and someone is in a phone booth
Someone is picking a library book and someone is baking bread
Someone is making love and someone is poaching eggs
Someone is drinking coffee and someone is drinking tea
Someone is listening to an iPod and someone is digging weeds
Someone is asking for forgiveness and someone is saying yes
Someone is holding her baby and someone is on the point of death
We feel far away and helpless
There are pictures of buildings falling and pictures of broken signs
There are pictures of cracked roads and pictures of papers flying
There are pictures of houses split in two and pictures of rising silt
There are pictures of colossal boulders and pictures of the miracles
There are pictures of teams searching and pictures of the cathedral
There are pictures of the walking dazed and pictures of the inconceivable
There are pictures of bloodstained faces and pictures of strained limbs
There are pictures of survivors weeping and pictures of hope undimmed
Helpless, we feel helpless
There is the sound of thumping hearts and the sound of rumbling ground
There is the sound of car alarms and the sound of someone found
There is the sound of china smashing and the sound of fires raging
There is the sound of phones unanswered and the sound of those afraid
There is the sound of reporters speechless and the sound of stories told
There is the sound of walls slumping and the sound of a further jolt
There is the sound of sirens shrieking and the sound of names listed
There is the sound of the mayor’s updates and the sound of labour gifted
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 
that’s very poignant, thank you Paula