Blog Archives

Listening for the voice, Janet Hughes

Coming to it: Selected Poems
Sam Hunt
Potton and Burton, $30.00,
ISBN 9780947503802

Poeta: Selected and New Poems
Cilla McQueen
Otago University Press, $40.00,
ISBN 9781988531281

Watching for the Wingbeat: New and Selected Poems
Pat White
Cold Hub Press, $40.00,
ISBN 97804734444204

A “Selected Poems” doesn’t confer quite the accolade of a collected, with its connotations of canonisation. But the poet is more likely to have a hand in shaping it, and to be around to enjoy it; it is more likely to privilege reading pleasure; and it’s simply more likely to happen. Back when publishers were powerful arbiters and gatekeepers, a selected poems affirmed a career and a reputation. Now that there are more gates and fewer keepers, the fact of a selected probably carries less freight.

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Poetic truths, Helen Heath

In a Slant Light: A Poet’s Memoir Cilla McQueen Otago University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9781877578717 When I read Elizabeth Knox’s personal essays The Love School, in 2008, I finally realised that a writer’s past is whatever they say it is.

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Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

Strip-mines and elegies, Mark Houlahan

Slip Stream Paula Green Auckland University Press, $24.99, ISBN 9781869404628   Crumple Vivienne Plumb Seraph Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780473177171   Time of the Icebergs David Eggleton Otago University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781877578021   The Radio Room Cilla McQueen Otago University

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Good returns, Cilla McQueen

Table Talk Kevin Ireland Cape Catley, $25.99, ISBN 9781877340246 Africa Alistair Paterson Puriri Press, $36.00, ISBN 9780908943364 The Lakes of Mars Chris Orsman Auckland University Press, $24.99, ISBN 9781869404086 The Worm in the Tequila Geoff Cochrane Victoria University Press, $25.00,

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Peeling away from the margins Janet Wilson

Red Leaves Diana Bridge Auckland University Press, $22.95, ISBN 1869403460 Fire-penny Cilla McQueen University of Otago Press, $29.95, ISBN 1877372066 Resistance Meg Campbell Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, $16.95, ISBN 1869420578 This bouquet of verse demonstrates the flourishing talent of

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A walk on the wild side, Cilla McQueen

Wild Anne French Auckland University Press, $31.95, ISBN 186940310X Travel and other compulsions Heather McPherson Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, $18.00, ISBN 1869420349 Catullus for Children Anna Jackson Auckland University Press, $21.95, ISBN 1869403088 Bluff’s main street was recently relieved

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Taking poetry for a walk, John Allison

Millionaire’s Shortbread  Mary-Jane Duffy, Mary Cresswell, Mary Macpherson, Kerry Hines University of Otago Press, $29.95, ISBN 187727643X Len & other poems Jo Thorpe Steele Roberts, $$19.95, ISBN 187722894X Soundings Cilla McQueen University of Otago Press, $29.95, ISBN 1877276383 I once

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Indigenous voices, colonial language, Cilla McQueen

Whetu Moana – Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English ed Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri & Robert Sullivan Auckland University Press, $49.95, ISBN 1869402731 Captain Cook in the Underworld Robert Sullivan Auckland University Press, $21.95, ISBN 1869402812   “Before had England even

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Nudging the unsuitable, Cilla McQueen

How To Make A Million Emma Neale Godwit, $22.95, ISBN 18692100X The Unfortunate Singer Rachel Bush Victoria University Press, $24.95, ISBN 0864734360 My reading’s re-creation, via language, of another poet’s perceptions, thoughts, aural sensibility and verbal skill, allows me a

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Subliminal euphonies, Cilla McQueen

Realia  Kate Camp Victoria University Press, $24.95, ISBN 0864734204   deep down musical hearts beat for no reason no apparent reason (“Beats”)   I like the sound of Kate Camp. She has an ear for a harmonic beat within the

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
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