I am a poet and medic based in Aotearoa New Zealand. I write to capture moments and memories, and I believe that poetry is a “snapshot of the soul.” Many of my poems are inspired by the beautiful nature of New Zealand, and my work in hospitals. When I’m not writing or talking about poetry, I am campaigning for endangered native birds.
Poetry
My poetry has appeared in poetry journals, including Circular and a fine line (Summer 2024, Winter 2023), and in poetry collections including the New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology 2024 Paint Me, when I can no longer inhale your breath published by Renee Liang, in A Vocabulary of Rangatahi Poets Volume I and Volume II, How I Survived 2020 by City Limits Publishing, and The Sacred Feminine by Open Skies Press. As a medical student, my work appeared in student publications such as the Auckland University Student Association (AUSA)’s Kate Magazine in 2020, 2021, and 2022, and the medical students’ ND Magazine in 2019-2022. My poems have appeared on blogs such as the New Zealand Medical Students’ Association (NZMSA) Wellbeing Blog on Facebook and Instagram, and the New Zealand Medical Student Journal blog.
In 2024, my poem Ozymandias, Or; The British Museum, Room 4 was Commended in the New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry Competition. In 2022, my poem Pandora’s Box, which explores the societal and political attitudes toward junk food marketing and paediatric healthcare, won the University of Auckland Population Health Prize. I was a semifinalist in the 2020 Jack Grapes Poetry Prize held by Cultural Daily with my poem Ode To Old Books.
My piece Mosaic City was displayed for several weeks in Commercial Bay on a Youth Arts New Zealand art installation for Young At Art 2021.
Books
I have self-published two poetry books, Reflections (2018) and What Are You Made Of? (2022). Both are printed in New Zealand and available on my website.
I coordinated, edited, and self-published The Poetical Lobe, a collection of brain-themed poems by New Zealanders affected by neurological conditions, in 2024.
Public Speaking and Performance
In April 2025, I presented my analysis on what poetry teaches us about the inner ear and anauralia to a multidisciplinary team of researchers and artists at the inaugural The Mind’s Ear And Inner Voice conference, hosted in Auckland, New Zealand. In March of the same year, I shared my favourite medical poems as the guest poet at Poetry Live in Auckland.
I was a guest speaker at the Sunrise Startups Festival Aotearoa held by the Blackbird Foundation in September 2022, and TEDxUoA Conference in September 2022 in Auckland, New Zealand, with a talk on “How Children’s Poetry Will Change Your Life”. I’ve spoken in two podcasts, Episode 20 of Art Muse Podcast and S1E04 of the Emerging Aotearoa Podcast.