Poets, friends and family mourn wordsmith

A mentor, musician and master poet died peacefully, and his funeral attracted people “from all walks of life”.

John Allison, born in Blenheim in 1950, died in Christchurch on March 14, surrounded by family.

He taught at Christchurch Rudolf Steiner School for more than two decades and was a large part of the Canterbury Poetry Collective (CPC) later in life.

Allison’s middle child, Rosamund McDonald, said her father was “unapologetically himself”.

“He liked to connect with everyone on a deep level and had no time for small talk. He was all about connection and love and beauty, always searching for meaning in everything.”

She remembered her dad for his “incredible story telling” and musical prowess with the lute.

McDonald and her two siblings are all professional musicians as a result of their father’s passion for music.

Allison’s funeral this month attracted people “from all walks of life”, McDonald said, noting the legacies he left behind.

After his death, more than 80 people took to Facebook with fond memories and messages for the “beautifully insightful writer”, “inspiring teacher” and “dear friend”.

“Anything that involved beauty was Dad, really: word, sound and also he had an amazing eye for capturing the beauty of the world,” McDonald said.

In a lengthy tribute posted to the CPC Facebook page, long-time friend and poet James Norcliffe paid his respects to Allison.

“So many poets, just embarking on their poetry journey, have spoken of his kind words of encouragement, words that gave them confidence and a sense of inclusion,” he wrote.

Norcliffe said Allison’s extensive work with the CPC after returning from 15 years in Melbourne wasn’t his legacy

– his “beautifully perfected work” and support for fellow poets was.

“Vale John, good friend, marvellous poet, generous man.”

Allison published his first volume of poems, Dividing the Light, in 1997. His seventh and final collection, A Long Road Trip Home, was published in September last year.

He was Poetry New Zealand 14’s featured poet, and his poem Father’s axe, grandfather’s machete, featured in the Best New Zealand Poems’ 2020 collection.

In an excerpt from his 2019 collection A Place to Return to, Allison pondered deeply, opening with: “Living seems more complicated now than dying.”

He likened his life to parole after facing death row, and queried “however I will live as though indeed I were living”, knowing he would eventually meet his end.

“Yet poetry is all there is, when nothing else makes sense,” he concluded.

In December, Allison posted to Facebook about his 11-year-old “Dark Companion” – prostate cancer – and some treatment he would soon be receiving.

“It’s possible I could then be pain-free for a while, maybe even for months. It won’t stop the cancer.

“The Dark Companion has emerged from the shadows and is dancing fiercely with me,” he wrote.

Although there were “inumerable” metastases throughout his body, he refused to hate the cancer cells as they were part of him, “not alien”.

“I’m at peace with my life, and with my Dark Companion, though of course there is the anguish and poignancy of a long farewell,” he wrote.

SUPPLIED Allison, second from left, with his children Iselta, Rosamund and Matthew.