Christchurch Poet Jane Simpson will hold a reading of her poems dealing with sexual abuse from her book, ‘Shaking the Apple Tree’ at a special event at Christchurch’s Transitional Cathedral at 7pm on 8 August. The event will also be livestreamed on the Christchurch Transitional Cathedral Youtube Channel.

Simpson’s collection of poems in breaks open the subject of sexual abuse by Anglican clergy and offers hope and healing to victims and survivors.

With an historian’s eye, Simpson draws on evidence in witness statements to the Royal Commission to create poems that speak with unexpected power. Poetry and feminist theology are brought together in the context of sexual violence. Faith is redefined by female survivors, shaking the apple tree. 

The Rev. Louise Deans, author of Whistleblower, a book that details sexual abuse of women by a male priest in the Anglican Church in the 1980s says:

‘I have burned with anger reading Shaking the Apple Tree. These poems should cause a bonfire in our hearts and minds, for this is the Church’s new story.’ 

Internationally-acclaimed New Zealand poet, Dr Tracey Slaughter, said that Simpson’s poems in this collection dare to rage against a hidden “crucifixion”, she says the poems

“...walk the unholy stations of hurt that women have encountered behind church doors, to tear away the ecclesiastical privilege that enshrined the abusers’ rights to silence, to honour the survivors who have risen from the wreckage and reconstructed their frail faith.”

“They insist women’s bodies are sacred ground they will never surrender.”

Professor of Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago, Prof David Tombs, says the poems voice important truths. 

‘Jane Simpson’s poetry speaks with compassion, honesty and sensitivity on the abuse crisis in faith institutions. This is a powerful and thought-provoking collection. Readers are likely to go back to reading these poems again and again’.

Penny Hale, Safeguarding and Risk Manager in the Diocese of Waiapu recognised the value of the collection in educational settings.

“I wish I had had Jane Simpson’s poems before I redesigned my training course.”

Shaking the Apple Tree is available now in selected bookshops, and as an e-book or PDF from www.poiema.co.nz. The poetry reading on 8 August 2024 at Christchurch’s Transitional Cathedral takes place at 7pm.