Tigers at Awhitu (AUP, 2010) was her debut collection of poems, and contained all those secret ingredients that enable a depth of flavour, faith, frailty and family.
The awesome moments continue in her second collection, Gleam.
There are more painful moments about her protracted and courageous battle with cancer.
She has left behind poems full of surprise, confidence and intimacy.
This is a voice that talks from beyond the grave.
"You are my harbour'':
you are my harbour
I don't always find you
you don't always want me
on maps your entrance is marked
as perilous, definitely unsuitable
for a craft in my condition
but still I persist
sailing back and forth
on the oceanward side
of the whirlpools and rips
until I find a way through
and then, again
and for always,
you are my harbour
Gleam shows all Broom's creative maturity on display.
She lectured at the University of Otago in 2000, but she always wanted to be a published poet in her own right.
Gleam contains some of the most beautiful and startling poems about dying I have ever read.
- Hamesh Wyatt lives in Bluff. He reads and writes poetry.
