Marty Smith spent lockdown with her closest friend, Paul Davis, building the last house of his life when the virus stole his story. Her lockdown essay tells it for him. Paul invited Flo into his end-of-life to take the photos that run alongside. It is the backstory for the poems she wrote that move into the rooms of those long strange days.

Marty Smith’s Horse with Hat won the Jesse Mackay award for Best First Book of Poetry and was a finalist in the Poetry Award in the 2014 NZ Post Book Awards.

Florence Charvin is a Napier photographer

Verb Festival 2020 appearances:
7.15pm, Nov 7: Lie Down & Listen: Death Salon