Blog Archives
Poem – Mary Macpherson
Chiaroscuro (for Terry) It’s clear how quickly darkness swims up the gums – there’s light and shadow, then the silver trunks and tossed heads are gone. Bats call in darkness. I’ve seen this in Auckland too – a city…
Poem – John O’Connor
Memo: Fragrant as a Rose It is reported that Comrade Stalin has smiled. Fleetingly. Between vodka and signing permissions for fresh interrogations, Comrade Beria had mentioned the Civic Crèche and an upcoming visit to Australia. Comrade Stalin’s distrust of…
The cave of making, Chris Else
Below Tim Corballis Victoria University Press, $24.95, ISBN 0864734131 Let me say at the outset that this is a remarkable novel; subtle, complex, delicately wrought. It is the kind of work that leaves you thinking not just about the material…
Tagged with: Chris Else, December 2001, Issue 51, Tim Corballis, Victoria University Press
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Mating rituals, Jock Phillips
Mates text by Jim Hopkins, photos by Julie Riley HarperCollins, $29.95, ISBN 1869503678 Telephone rings. S.Nag: Hullo. Sam here. B.Loke: Gidday, mate. Brucey here. How about coming down to the pub to watch the footie on the big screen?…
Tagged with: December 2001, HarperCollins, Issue 51, Jim Hopkins, Jock Phillips, Julie Riley
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
Obiturary — Allen Curnow
Allen Curnow (1911-2001) When did a wind of the extreme South before Mix autumn, spring and death? (“Elegy on My Father”, Allen Curnow, 1949) I cannot remember when I first encountered Allen Curnow’s poetry. It seems to have been…
Poem – Nick Williamson
Margaret’s Roses Christmas Day and Uncle Frank is glued to the Queen’s Speech. Her pigeon voice glides over oceans and out of the fraying mouth of a wireless. She wishes us well stuck at far-flung corners of the Commonwealth…
Perils and blessings, Charlotte Yates
“Imprints” I have three Joni Mitchell albums in my collection – The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Blue and Heijira. They have acted as both a personal and a professional musical resource. They’ve become albums I return to, not exclusively but…
The uses of memory, Louise O’Brien
Little Moon Emma Neale Vintage, $24.95, ISBN 1869414756 Little Moon, Emma Neale’s second novel, following the success of Night Swimming in 1998, is an account of the troubled childhood and adolescence of a young woman growing up in New Zealand.…
Tagged with: December 2001, Emma Neale, Issue 51, Louise O’Brien, Vintage
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
The courtyard jungle, Kerry Carman
Life (and death) in a Small City Garden Philippa Swan Godwit, $24.95, ISBN 1869620798 In the vast and varied field of literature, gardens and writing are a classic pairing. Well-told stories of personal experience are few and far between, grist…
Tagged with: December 2001, Godwit, Issue 51, Kerry Carman, Philippa Swan
Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review
Words for music perhaps, Nick Bollinger
Love This Life: Lyrics 1978-2001 Neil Finn Allen & Unwin, $35.00, ISBN 1865085081 Lyrics without melody Mahinarangi Tocker Street Women Press, $19.95, ISBN 0473074427 I have always been a passionate pop fan, but never a great lover of the printed…
Tagged with: Allen & Unwin, December 2001, Issue 51, Mahinarangi Tocker, Neil Finn, Nick Bollinger, Street Women Press
Posted in Literature, Music, Non-fiction, Poetry, Review
Posted in Literature, Music, Non-fiction, Poetry, Review