As Godwits Fly

Godwits landing on the Motueka, NZ sandspit after their migration from Alaska.
Image from http://blog.doc.govt.nz/tag/motueka/

When asked why so many of us travel abroad, most Kiwis will respond that our birth country is a long way from anywhere and we want to see what the rest of the world looks like. The iconic image for such a journey is the godwit, a mottled brown wading bird with a long upturned bill that arrives around mid-September and spends the New Zealand summers foraging in mudflats and marshes. As the southern hemisphere air turns autumnal, godwits flock on sand spits and set off on their annual migration to another summer. They fly non-stop, nine thousand miles north to their breeding grounds in Alaska and Siberia. The mysterious compulsion for this incredible journey captured the imagination of early New Zealand writers. Hyde book coverRobin Hyde,  in her 1938 novel The Godwits Fly, first offered the metaphor: Most of us here are human godwits; our north is mostly England. Our youth, our best, our intelligent, brave and beautiful, must make the long migration, under a compulsion they hardly understand.

A decade later, the poet Charles Brasch  would write:

Remindingly beside the quays the white
Ships lie smoking; and from their haunted bay
The godwits vanish towards another summer.
Everywhere in light and calm the murmuring
Shadow of departure …

Among my notes in my black filing cabinet is something I must have typed not long before my husband Tony and I left for England:

difficult to believe quote

Pinned to that sheet of 9×6” newsprint (which we reporters used at The Press to type up our stories) is another with this comment from a friend:

friend quote

how to save articleAnd in my clippings from The Press scrapbook is this advice column. The savings amounts I suggested are in New Zealand pounds, which were each worth US $1.40 in 1961. Even for the time, they were wildly optimistic, as we discovered when we arrived in London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

black file logo

 

Maureen is exploring the contents of an old black filing cabinet in her attic, which contains 55 years of her writing notes and memorabilia.

 

4 Responses to “As Godwits Fly”

  • Kate:

    Just when I think this series can’t get any better, it does. Bravo Maureen! Keep them coming!

  • Yes, Norma, it was a weight issue as well as a spending money issue. Books in NZ were (and still are) way more expensive than here.

  • I loved reading the letter of advice for future travelers, and I have a question. Don’t buy books or records. You won’t be able to take them with you. Because books would be too heavy in your suitcase, I’m assuming, not any sort of censorship.

  • Jeanette Boyer:

    Now that I’m more familiar with godwits, this image is all the more meaningful. I never would have thought that one of those old, rather ugly, metal filing cabinets could produce such treasures as your ongoing blogs.

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