Poet, critic and curator Greg O'Brien wrote this poem after happening upon Pip Culbert's Pup Tent while visiting the Gallery in 2016.

But there is more to it than that, because our own curator Peter Vangioni then hand-printed the poem and it was published in a limited edition by Kowhai Press. You can see pictures of this exquisite publication below.

Greg has kindly read the poem while we are closed and we add it to our growing collection of poems to wash your hands to - or just to listen to for pleasure.

As we all know, one of the best ways to prevent the spread of Covid-19 is washing our hands. For the last week or so, our wonderful librarian Tim Jones supplied all the bathrooms at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū with poems by New Zealand poets to make the recommended 2-minute handwashing sessions pass a little more bearably.

Now we are all working from home, we'll try to keep this going, starting with a reading of On First Looking into Chapman's Homer by John Keats, the poem behind Michael Parekowhai's sculpture. Tim himself is the reader.

Press play and start washing.