Helen Rickerby
banner
helenrickerby.bsky.social
Helen Rickerby
@helenrickerby.bsky.social
Poet and so forth.
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
What I read in 2025 (6):
Anna Jackson's Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts
A splendid prose poem about affirmative doubt, in five seasons, from summer to summer, because you can only be aware of summer when you get back to it. A focused, feeling exploration of thinking. Somewhat fearless.
December 9, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
Hello fellow patriots

Did you know that at 3.30pm today the govt is introducing an “undisclosed bill” which, as the title suggests, means no one knows what it is.

The opposition needs to prepare for a bill that they haven’t been told about…can someone tell me how that is democratic?
December 8, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
While the govt celebrates the OCR being at 2.25%

they're happy to keep interest rates on overseas Student Loan borrowers at 4.9%.

71% of overseas Student Loan borrowers can't repay the total of $2.193 billion in overdue debt, which still keeps growing.

#nzpol

action.greens.org.nz/student_loan...
We need an inquiry | Overseas NZers Student Loan Repayment Scheme
We need an inquiry into the Student Loan Repayment Scheme for New Zealanders living overseas!
action.greens.org.nz
December 8, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
This Bill threatens every worker in New Zealand. Brooke van Velden's Employment Relations Amendment Bill has come back from Select Committee - and she's made it EVEN WORSE for workers. #nzpol
union.org.nz/employment-b...
Employment bill is worst attack on workers in decades - NZCTU
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is condemning select committee changes to the Employment Relations Amendment Bill, which would give bad employers an even greater ability to exploit workers.
union.org.nz
December 8, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
Thank you NZ Greens for saying this so clearly.
December 8, 2025 at 2:06 AM
And I 'm so delighted to be featured in the forthcoming December issue of takahē!
So excited to be featuring new poems by Helen Rickerby in the forthcoming December issue!

The selection comes from her next book, 'My Bourgeois Apocalypse'' (Auckland University Press, 2026).
December 5, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
Prompted by the Self and Sequence: Lyric Diary symposium, Volume Books has put a page of books together that use fragments as form
volume.nz/volumebooks/...
Volume Focus: FRAGMENT AS FORM — VOLUME
A selection of books from our shelves that use the accumulation of fragments as a literary form. Click through to find out more: Garments Against Women Terrier, Worrier Flickerbook ...
volume.nz
December 5, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
✨ We're thrilled to announce Hungus by Amber Esau (Ngāpuhi / Manase) is coming 12 March 2026 – the arrival of a dazzling new voice in Aotearoa poetry.

teherengawakapress.co.nz/products/hun...
December 4, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Ooh, advanced warning of my new (forthcoming) book is up on the AUP website: aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/my-bourgeois...
My Bourgeois Apocalypse
A surprising and genre-bending poetic memoir about the years when everything got weirder.
aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz
December 4, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
This is an important point - bad faith actors like Seymour use these tactics regularly. If you've ever been a victim of this in your personal life you'll recognise it in people in positions of power and Seymour is a prime example. It's unacceptable and toxic AF.
December 2, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
This is really just Opposition MPs doing their job, reading the accounts and asking the right questions. And the Minister of Finance insulting them because she doesn't want to answer the questions.
“Under questioning in the meeting, Willis also confirmed the government had no intention of buying offshore carbon credits to meet the 2030 Paris agreement as part of a "performative awards ceremony" even if that meant it would breach its commitment.”

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
'A bit tired, a bit ratty': Heated exchange between Willis and Labour MPs at Parliament
The Finance Minister has called the opposition's behaviour "unbecoming" after accusations of name-calling and conspiracy-thinking.
www.rnz.co.nz
December 2, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
Heads up NZ poets with no more than one collection published: entries for the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets close this Friday! $6000 first prize, details here.
2025 Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets ($9000) - Overland literary journal
About the prize Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets seeks poetry by writers who have published no ...
overland.org.au
December 1, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
My reach on socials doesn't = Ryan's, but I feel need to continue drumbeat. THESE WERE ALREADY ILLEGAL strikes. The doubletap makes it MORE OBVIOUS, not MORE ILLEGAL. (ok. it's a bit more illegal; since it opens a whole new category of illegal).
(we tried people at Nuremburg for crimes like this).
Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing

"Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions."

Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 29, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
Not only is this blatantly unfair, but for a Party that doesnt believe in collective responsibility,theyre holding ALL children responsible for the actions of others...

www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...
Lunch funding to be tied to attendance for hundreds more schools
Next year funding for school lunches delivered through the internal model will be tied to attendance.
www.stuff.co.nz
November 28, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
Why is it "frankly disgusting" for parents and schools to stand up for what THEY believe is right for their tamariki? Why is the PM allowing his MPs to spread anti-worker, anti-Te Tiriti disinformation on social media?
#nzpol
November 28, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
Applications are open for the 2026 Penguin Random House Māori and Pacific Publishing Scholarship. Deadline 31 January 2026 (and expressions of interest in the course itself should be made by early December).https://authors.org.nz/call-for-applications-for-maori-and-pacific-publishing-scholarship/
Call for applications for Māori and Pacific Publishing Scholarship | New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc) Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa
authors.org.nz
November 27, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
More accurate headline:

Deloitte receives $435k of public funds to produce a report that recommends austerity, asset selling, and AI snake-oil for Wellington City Council.

#nzpol
November 25, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
the state should not stop me from building what I want to build but should stop other people from building what i don't want them to build and also the process should be faster with more consultation of me and not cost money
November 25, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
November 21, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
There are a million children in Aotearoa, about 700 of them have been prescribed puberty blockers (that's 0.07%)

Medication decisions should be decided by the child, their caregivers, and the relevant health professionals, not a party relying on imported culture wars to stay in power
November 19, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
"There are accidents that will happen. What I'm wanting to focus on is, how do I improve the overall economy and the situation that businesses and workers find themselves in?" - Van Velden. #PikeRiver
November 19, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Helen Rickerby
Andrew Little showing his support for wasting $4 billion to move a choke point further along, but he sends Courtenay Place renewal back for review after we've voted for it time and time again.
November 17, 2025 at 7:57 AM