C K STEAD CBE is a leading figure in Commonwealth literature – novelist, poet, critic, teacher, controversialist and the author of many books. Christian Karlson (Karl) Stead was born in New Zealand in 1932. He lives in Auckland but spends a part of each year living and writing overseas. He is married with three children, one of whom, Charlotte Grimshaw, is also a writer

In 2004 he published a new collection of poems, The Red Tram, as well as a new novel, Mansfield, both published by Auckland University Press.

Stead comments: ‘This is one of my 13-syllable triplet poems – a number I’ve written in recent years have found their way into that casual and yet quite demanding form. The poem comes from a story about Allen Curnow, on his way home after completing his training for the Anglican priesthood, finding he had lost his faith. I have fictionalised it, so he isn’t named.’

 

Poem: Without