Blog Archives
Stand Alone Stan, vol 2 of the quartet A Land Fit for Heroes Phillip Mann, Victor Gollancz, price not available This is Phillip Mann’s seventh book of fiction, an imaginative and philosophically coherent body of work, spanning over a decade.…
Laura’s poems Laura Ranger, Godwit, $12.95 The childhood juvenilia of famous poets is usually interesting – the first uncertain steps, the incorporation of nursery rhyme, and yes, a naivety that is pleasing. But what if a child is already a…
Laura’s Poems Laura Ranger, Godwit Publishing, $12.95 All three of us know Laura Ranger as a friend and we all agree on two things – she is a very nice person and a brilliant poet. She has endless ideas for…
How We Met Jenny Bornholdt, Victoria University Press, $19.95 Simplicity in writing – as in life – is a very complicated matter, difficult to achieve and uncertain in its effect. Simplicity in poetry is usually achieved by sacrificing content and…
Crown Proposals for the Settlement of Treaty of Waitangi Claims Hon Douglas Graham, Department of Justice Though the text of the Crown Proposals is a good deal less euphoric in tone than the hype which accompanied their release in December,…
Some screens Japanese Pavillion Los Angeles County Museum Palace scene in downtown LA Palace scene in a snowy landscape, spring cherry, autumn maple. We stand for a while and watch the snow: the bridge at Uji crossing from spring…
Painted Histories: Early Maori figurative painting Roger Neich, Auckland University Press, $79.95 In the late 1960s I slept for the first time in the meeting house Te-Poho-o-Hinekura at Te Kuha near Lake Waikaremoana. I was astonished by the faded blue…
The value of experiment I did not respond to Jane Stafford’s review of Michele Leggott’s Dia and my The Switch in New Zealand Books when it was first printed because I think the writing should speak for itself and face…
Painted Histories: Early Maori figurative painting Roger Neich, Auckland University Press, $79.95 One April morning in 1920 the Maori King Te Rata, his kaumatua, a greeting party and 1000 or so Waikato, gathered on the platform at Ngaruawahia railway station…
Between It is hard to tell its length, it appears to have no breadth. Between is a line of loops joining, between is a series of leaps separating, between is the arrow pointing. Between likes to give you little…