Ian Reid grew up in New Zealand and now lives in Western Australia. The most recent of his 15 books is a novel, The Madwoman's Coat. His poetry and other work has been widely published in several countries, winning awards (e.g. the Antipodes prize) and being translated into five languages.

Ian Reid

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Stone or shell

Under the water, you'd hardly tell them apart:
both round-gleaming, seeming sound.
On the sand, sun-dried, they alter.

Now you see that the stone is far too hard
for protecting anything beyond
itself, but the shell is a shelter:

within it, like a blood-rush through the heart
or a panting dog homeward bound,
inner waves run helter-skelter.