Blog Archives

Laughter in the dark, Terry Locke

No Joke  Mark Pirie Sudden Valley Press, $22.95, ISBN 0958209103 Excuse me, would you mind putting me on to Mark Pirie… if that’s his real name. Oh, it is? Yes, thank you. Look, Mark, I thought you might like some

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Issue 51 | December 2001

  Volume 11 | Number 5 | Issue 51 | December 2001 Dale Williams: John McCrystal, The Cars We Loved; John Bluck, Killing Us Softly: The Kiwi Culture of  Complaint; Richard Wolfe and Stephen Barnett,  Kiwiana! The Sequel Editorial Correspondence

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Pulling no punches, Sue Court

Music in New Zealand: A Reader from the 1940s ed Allan Thomas University of Canterbury School of Music, $25, ISBN 090871808X What does an anthology of source readings, soberly titled Music in New Zealand: A Reader from the 1940s have

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Posted in History, Music, Non-fiction, Review

Stone upon stone, David Eggleton

Collected Poems 1967-1999 Bill Manhire Victoria University Press, ISBN 086473411 (paperback), $34.95 ISBN 0864734212 (hardback) $49.95 In this Collected Poems, the private universe of Bill Manhire is made readily available to his ever-increasing audience. But it may take years and many readings

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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

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

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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

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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?

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Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

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

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

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

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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

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