Love Affair A given poem from Katherine Mansfield You wrote the table was laid for two but nobody came so you dined opposite a white napkin. It’s called giving yourself to life. Through the window a quiet branch has the evening to itself also.
- Riemke Ensing
from Classic NZ Poets in Performance (2006)
“Jack, you’ve got so fat!” True, perhaps, but not exactly tactful. But then, Riemke’s sense of humour tended to prevail over the Kiwi convention of backbiting people in private rather than to their faces. I have to respect her for that. I felt, too, that keeping things jokey was her way of combatting a certain turn towards melancholy. It’s all there in the poems. Poetry was a necessity, not a luxury, for Riemke. How else could she make sense of her life in this strange country at the bottom of the world, with these people whose monosyllabic utterances were so difficult to fathom? I remember at the launch of Classic New Zealand Poets in Performance, Riemke came upon my parents and me sitting out in the corridor, munching on sandwiches, because my Mum was sure that my Dad would get irritable if he didn’t get his dinner on time. She laughed out loud at how absurd we looked. Then she accepted the offer of a sandwich and sat down with us to polish it off. That was Riemke: vital, outrageous, but also, in the final analysis, quite practical – as well (of course) as fiercely intelligent. She scared me, but I’ll miss her anyway.
(14/8/26)
'Poetry Shelf pays tribute: Riemke Ensing (1939 – 2026).' Ed. Paula Green.
NZ Poetry Shelf: a poetry page with reviews, interviews, and other things.
[Available at: https://nzpoetryshelf.com/2026/09/04/poetry-shelf-pays-tribute-riemke-ensing-1939-1926/ (4/9/26)]
[203 wds]
Poetry Box: Paula Green
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