You probably think
when I listen
to your chest
with my stethoscope
I am listening
to your heart.
But I’m not.
I’m listening
to your stories.
I’m throwing a line
from one old
ship to another.
And swinging aboard.
These are lines from Glenn Colquhoun’s new bundle Letters to Young People. Glenn Colquhoun is a multi-award winning New Zealand poet...and a GP...and a youth worker.
Letters to Young People, is a collection of letters or poetry that he wrote to the young people he works with at the Horowhenua Youth Health Service, a free one-stop-shop for people aged 10 to 24. The letters in the book are evidence of his love for the patients, their stories and what he calls their ‘ghosts’.
Glen Colquhoun will be speaking at the Auckland Writers Festival in May about life and loss, the challenges facing our young people, and how we can help them – individually and as a society – to navigate those teenage years. He has generously offered to also speak at Petronella’s about his work as a GP, poet and youth worker and he will read from his latest collection on Sunday 18th of April at 7 pm.
Glen Colquhoun - 18 April 2021, 7pm, Petronella’s Gallery and Bookstore, Rapuwai Lane, Lake Tekapo
The event is free, but let Wilma know if you’re coming: 021 1541014
