“Things then seemed to just naturally flow around that.”
The book is dedicated to that “key figure” in her life and her young daughter.
Multiple poems in Hope Floats touch on Burgess’ time living on the station and memories with her grandfather.
“In the country, you have a lot of freedom to just notice things, I guess, that had a huge influence on me,” she said.
Hope Floats also includes photography as a “storytelling tool”.
Accompanying the poems about her grandfather, Burgess includes a map of the station, hand-drawn by her uncle, and a photo of the original sign her grandfather kept on his workshop.
Another significant image in the book accompanies poems about Burgess’ experience of the 2020 floods in Plimmerton.
But not all of the photos have literal connections to the writing.
“Most of the photos just represent a vague feeling,” Burgess said.
“I think it’s a subconscious process, there’s just a feeling you get when something works.”
Hope Floats has three titled sections: “The opposite of love is fear”, “Peace” and “Motherhood”.
Other themes in the book include freedom, family, farming and the ever-changing seasons of life.
Eight years since the publication of her first book, Chasing Rainbows, Burgess has developed her craft in a handful of ways.
As a self-published author, it is not just in creativity but also in practical techniques, such as marketing and formatting, where her skills have increased.
Just as she rejects elements of urbanised life, Burgess rejects “literary fads” and prefers to focus on the basics.
One of her main inspirations is legendary New Zealand poet Sam Hunt who was known to perform his poetry in local bars.
“I love that he took poetry to ordinary people by ordinary means,” Burgess said.
“Performing poetry is so great and it gives the poem a life of its own.”
Performance is likely to be an important part of her fourth book, which is in the planning stage.
She aims to connect music with her poetry and is considering recording an album of the poems in the book and their musical accompaniments.
Burgess said she had already created and performed much of the work she will include in the fourth book but, as a self-published author, time and funding were critical.
“It’s already sort of out there, it’s just not in a book yet,” she said.
Burgess will perform poetry in the Winterlude series at Mana Little Theatre in Plimmerton, where she now lives, in late June.
Hope Floats will be released on June 6 with a launch party at The Undercurrent in Wellington and will be for sale from June via Rebekah Burgess’ website rebekahburgessphotography.zenfoliosite.com
Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
