Blog Archives

Keith Westwater – Poem

To Avis Elaine The flowers you loved strew the shores of my first seven years Sometimes, in flower shops they shout out their names gerbera gladioli iris Sometimes they sing to me from a bouquet only half-made peonies pansies sweet…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry

Thoughts well-wrought, Damian Love

View from the South Owen Marshall (Grahame Sydney photographer) Vintage, $40.00, ISBN 9780143771845 It often seems to be the case that novelists, when they turn to verse, move with a more relaxed gait, a less self-conscious regard, than those whose…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Back on the rock, Janet Hughes

The Ski Flier Maria MacMillan Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781776561131 Vanishing Points Michele Leggott Auckland University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9781869408749 Tightrope Selina Tusitala Marsh Auckland University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9781869408725 Poetry seems to have reclaimed what someone called “the…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

An account of trauma, Michael Hulse

Allen Curnow: Collected Poems Elizabeth Caffin and Terry Sturm (eds) Auckland University Press, $60.00, ISBN 9781869408510 Allen Curnow’s poetry is a transcript of trauma. “Morning by morning incorruption / Puts on corruption”: this most fundamental of thoughts, borne in upon…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

A swarm of poets, Airini Beautrais 

Manifesto Aotearoa: 101 Political Poems Philip Temple and Emma Neale (eds) Otago University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9780947522469   New Zealand poetry in English has a long and complex tradition of politically-charged work: from colonial balladeers, through 20th-century heavyweights like Allen…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

The wisdom of things, Anna Smaill

The Yield Sue Wootton Otago University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780947522483 The Internet of Things Kate Camp Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781776561063 There is beauty to be had in yielding, Sue Wootton’s collection suggests, both to the natural world and…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Jewels and binoculars, Murray Bramwell

Blood Ties: New and Selected Poems 1963–2016 Jeffrey Paparoa Holman Canterbury University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781927145883 Dylan Junkie Jeffrey Paparoa Holman Mākaro Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780994137807 It is a harsh fact that we live in a world where there is…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Sustained fullness of feeling, Damian Love

Tell Me My Name Bill Manhire Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9781776561070   Some Things to Place in a Coffin Bill Manhire Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781776561056 It is often a revealing act. To translate, to imitate, to inhabit…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Young, gifted, female and brown, Elizabeth Crayford

Fale Aitu|Spirit House Tusiata Avia Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781776560646 Tail of the Taniwha Courtney Sina Meredith Beatnik Publishing, $30.00, ISBN 9780992264895 Lucky Punch Simone Kaho Anahera Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780473367510 Before Tusiata Avia’s Fale Aitu|Spirit House was published,…
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Posted in Literature, Plays, Poetry, Review

Infectious enjoyment, Fleur Adcock

Night Burns with a White Fire: The Essential Lauris Edmond Frances Edmond and Sue Fitchett (eds) Steele Roberts, $35.00, ISBN 9780947493448 This enjoyable anthology doesn’t pretend to be anything but an act of loving homage; as the editors admit, they…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
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