Kāpiti poet Kerry Dalton impresses large Womad audience

Kerry Dalton. Photo / David Haxton

It’s fair to say Kerry Dalton had a few nerves running through her as she saw the size of the crowd in front of her.

Dalton was among 10 poets who took part in the New Zealand Womad Poetry Slam competition held at the Womad festival in the Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth.

Not only were about 1000 people waiting to be entertained but three judges as well, including New Zealand poet laureate Chris Tse.

Judging wasn’t just on the poem itself but on how well the poet delivered it. No pressure.

Dalton, who is the Citizens Advice Bureau chief executive, certainly felt a long way from her humble abode in Paekākāriki.

With a few deep breaths, and as much courage as she could summon, there was only one thing Dalton could do as she stepped out onto the stage – give it her best shot.

The poets were whittled down during a series of rounds before Dalton was declared the overall winner.

Dalton read three of her poems in the competition: My Night Sky, To Pluto on the occasion of its demotion from being a planet, and Let Us Breathe.

She was a bit hesitant with her first poem as it included some swear words, but it went down well with the audience and gave her a lot of confidence as the competition progressed.

Before the competition, Dalton had only read her poetry twice in public – firstly at the New Zealand Poetry Society Competition in Auckland where her Pluto poem placed third, and secondly at the Raumati South Club’s poetry open night, which she used to prepare for the Womad competition.

At Womad, she read her poems off by heart and put in as much expression as she could.

“I was really happy,” she said about winning the competition.

“You write things but don’t know how someone is going to respond to them.

“But I had this large audience responding very enthusiastically, which was great, and the judges as well.

“It was very encouraging to me.”

The prize for winning the competition was two luxury tickets to Womad next year.

Dalton said that, once she gets an idea for a poem, it snowballs into other ideas.

“It can take a long time for me to feel a poem is completed.

“I play around with words, take words out, add more in – a lot goes into them.”

“I’ve written poetry in fits and starts, especially because of working full-time.

“In 2021 I was lucky enough to have a sabbatical from my work so I spent quite a bit of that time writing poetry, which was wonderful.”

She’s had a love of poetry for as long as she can remember.

“I think poetry is a wonderful thing.

“It’s people expressing themselves, crafting words and connecting with other people through it.

“The more we can have of it the better.”

We can expect to hear more from her, especially as the reaction from the Womad audience had been “hugely affirming”.

“At the very least I think I will be writing more poems and trying to perform them.”

Let Us Breathe

You call to me

within the sphere

that CO2 is making

disappear. I climbed your branches

took you for granted

did not see your rings of history

I release my breath

It gets transformed inside

your chest

The air is cool

cleansed by your skin

a place to be renewed in

Place your feet here, anchor the soil here

filter the wind through your leaves

let us breathe, let us breathe, let us breathe

You reach up high

span earth and sky

hold the arcing moon, hope

in your limbs. You rustle

all through the night, pollinate the stars

give the birds respite

I will not trade you on the future’s

market. I will not give

you up to the cutting floor

I breathe you

You breathe me

We make atoms swarm

Place your feet here,

anchor the soil here

filter the wind through your leaves

let us breathe

let us breathe

let us breathe