Under the Fuchsia Tree

Under the Fuchsia Tree is a chapbook of 16 poems written after reconnecting with an old flame from half a century ago . . .

Kate & I met in a youth club called The Grotto, in Freemans Bay in the early 1960s. Her family were immigrants after the war from the UK & lived in council flats at the bottom of Wellington Street, not far from The Grotto.

Housed in an old church hall The Grotto provided space for youth to congregate, play pop records, dance, drink Coca Cola & eye up the talent. The boys parked their cars on a rough patch of ground where the church had been before its demolition. The church hall remained & was used for social events. On Sundays church volunteers gave outclothes & dished up meals to shell-shock methos.

When Kate & I split up (as inevitably teenage firstloves do), I left Auckland & headed south, & I didnt hear from her again for 54 years when, out of the blue, a friend request popped up on Facebook.

Mr Olds previous outings with Cold Hub Press include the chapbooks Ballad of the Last Cold Pie and Journey to the Far South, You Fit the Description(selected poems) and his most recent collection Taking My Jacket for a Walk.

Featured in the 30 April 2019 New Zealand newsletter.
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