A special poem by Labour’s deputy leader Kelvin Davis, following in the tradition of political verse started by David Cunliffe. A year ago I started a tale A story with a chapter yet to unveil Of a world of light and some pretty ugly taniwha Of a guy called Kevin Davies And a joke that’s … Read more
As we emerged, blinking, from the first lockdown, essa may ranapiri said they might write a response to the wonderful poetry published by Māori writers over that strange time. They did not want the work “dumped in the world and forgotten” – they wanted it seen, held high, lit up. Here is that piece. He … Read more
A new poem from Christchurch poet and environmental activist E Wen Wong. passport to the seasons leaves f a l l crisp like coconut husks, fraying threads of winter’s snow. the hairs of the pōhutukawa stand on their necks doused in a chilli seeds they hang like red alfalfa … Read more
Between 2009 and 2014, New Zealand’s top-rating breakfast radio host published a serialised ode to life’s simple pleasures on Twitter. We pay tribute to ‘Life is Perfect’, an unheralded literary achievement. On a warm Saturday evening in February 2013, New Zealand broadcaster Mike Hosking lifted the lid of his Weber barbecue. The meat he was … Read more
A new poem by Lyttelton poet Rebecca Nash. Flocks The café has run out of muffin crumbs and the sparrows have come to our woodshed. They fossick for slaters and wood hoppers. Concrete lies under logs, seeds lie under concrete incubating in the trapped soil. Roots strain into pipes. There too … Read more
A poem by Ngāti Hine/Ngāpuhi writer Nadine Anne Hura. Rest now, e Papatūānuku Breathe easy and settle Right here where you are We’ll not move upon you For awhile We’ll stop, we’ll cease We’ll slow down and stay home Draw each other close and be kind Kinder than we’ve ever been. I wish we … Read more
A new poem by Tauranga poet Marcel Currin. Riding home from work I’d been dreaming about the soft edges of the road. It was a radio dream. The voices were upside down. Something on the ground was interesting to them. Later I was awake. I don’t know when. My eyes were loaded with fog. … Read more
A new poem by Kirikiriroa poet essa may ranapiri. Kae and the Tohorā did u think of the taste of his blubber even as u sat upon his great mammal form ? think of unmasking the slip of his great flippers that churn the salt troth of the sea … Read more
Presenting: the fourth and final instalment in our best-of-the-year series, put together by the Spinoff and various benevolent elves. This time it’s poetry, and there was a lot of it this year, so it was extremely difficult to choose just ten titles. These are just a handful of the poetry collections that moved us, that … Read more
A new poem by Belfast-based poet J. Taylor Bell. the other day i witnessed a man seize with epilepsy in the produce section then the bottom fell out of the plastic bag on the long diaspora between self-checkout and the deserts of the kitchen counter i felt like napoleon the morning after waterloo surveying the … Read more
A new poem by writer and performer Freya Daly Sadgrove. TURDUCKEN I blow my body around like the huge clump of brown hair that I once saw blowing up Cuba Street I follow its movements with interest I put a video of it on the internet my favourite … Read more
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane. Channel Hopping Stupa or Stuka? Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit? Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck? * I’m young in my dreams, still young. * Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades— antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses. * I’m young in my dreams, still young, and I still have some ink … Read more
New poetry by Auckland writer Joanna Cho. 1:52 Tsukuru, I wish I could watch a kererū with you. The roots of hyacinths are soft like leeks in the frying pan, or feet in the bath , and it’s these that make a mess. The locations of pipes, … Read more
A new poem by acclaimed poet and performer Tusiata Avia. Massacre Thursday 14 March When I arrive in Auckland and Hine learns that I have moved back to Christchurch she asks me if I know it is a bad place it is built on a swamp many bad things have been done … Read more
New verse from poet and playwright Renee Liang. Contents of a mummy Tardis handbag 1 pair sparkly sneakers 1 small bag defrosted peas, rejected by non-health-conscious ducks in the domain re 1 tube sunblock (unused) 2 battery packs for iPad iPad, open at Lego Star Wars game iPhone, open at Pokémon Go wallet packed with … Read more
New poetry from Wellington-born writer Ursula Robinson-Shaw. Everything is nice they have announced the last day mel waters the garden the dirt is hard for summer everybody is hard for summer to drink lavish cocktails to meet-cute on the table of the harsh dissolving seasons to take girls back to our houses in … Read more
Poet Steven Toussaint on the explosive, triumphant wizardry that is happening here and now. This much is obvious: something electrifying is taking place in New Zealand poetry. I became a permanent resident of this country four years ago, and at that time I privately considered verse here to have grown a little stale. While stand-out … Read more
New poetry by Semira Davis. Into the garden come into the garden where your mother and uncle lean the bamboo corpses into triangle arches for the beans the garden where the earth reads your palm and the life line the love line the heart line are dirty and mud come into the garden and … Read more
We conclude our week-long examination of the poet James K Baxter, and a new book of his letters, with an essay by the poet’s great-grandson Jack McDonald about his Nana, Baxter’s wife, the author and Māori leader Jacquie Sturm. “I was minding a four-year-old great-grandson, and we went down to the beach. We made a … Read more
All week this week the Spinoff Review of Books revisits the great poet James K Baxter, on the occasion of a new book of letters. Today: CK Stead remembers Baxter, in this extract taken from his memoir in progress, South-East of Everywhere. Early in 1966 the Otago University Students’ Association invited me to Dunedin. I was to be there for … Read more
All week this week we revisit the great poet James K Baxter on the occasion of a new book of his letters. Today: a selection of the letters written in 1969, dealing with his experiences at the Jerusalem commune in Whanganui, and a crash-pad in Grafton in Auckland. To Robin Dudding, Christchurch Dear Bob, After the middle … Read more
New poetry (untitled) by Wellington writer Gregory Kan. I thought that the things I loved were places I could always go back to but the spaces between things become places themselves and threaten to swallow me whole. I thought that knowing in just the right way would be enough to … Read more
New poetry by Oscar Upperton. Cross dresser I am a pious woman. I watch as the men leave for war. I rake the garden over with my hands. War visits on the roof of the church. She sits like a great owl, hooting. I turn my face away. I pray, Lord I pray. … Read more
New poetry by Wellington writer Carolyn DeCarlo. Winter Swimmers We are not swimming pools, our faces never submerged in water long enough to breathe, never dipped below the surface, eyes absorbing the chlorine and urea flushing milky pink. We do not share the sunblock, our fingers wet and greasy … Read more
New poetry by Auckland writer Steven Toussaint. Yes or No Are you happy with your service provider? Have you contemplated private piety’s competitive prices? Are you in the market for something like but not precisely eternal return? Have you been waiting long in our baffled room? … Read more
Book of the Week: In which Spinoff Review of Books literary editor Steve Braunias commissions Murray Edmond to review an anthology of New Zealand poetry – first appearing on the Spinoff Review of Books – published by Steve Braunias The cover of The Friday Poem: 100 New Zealand Poems is a photo of someone riding a bike … Read more
New verse by Dunedin writer Vincent O’Sullivan. After Lucy Tinakori’s Famous Party I love it that poetry now so possesses the world it is not possible to play ‘pin the tail’ at a children’s party without every child being the winner wherever the tail’s pinned. Space is guaranteed compliant the way thumb’s fumbling’s inevitably … Read more
Book of the Week: Jane Westaway reviews Colin Hogg’s portrait of poet Sam Hunt. Personal disclosure first. Sam Hunt and I crossed paths back in the 1970s and early 80s, in his Bottle Creek/Battle Hill/Death’s Corner days. His Minstrel-the-dog and first-son days. And at what he would probably dislike being dubbed his peak-celebrity days. He was … Read more
New verse by Devonport writer Kevin Ireland. Lamb stew with bonus Gently fry tomatoes and green peppers. Toss them in a casserole. Use olive oil, not butter. Flavour them with home-cured bacon, and throw in plenty of shallots – they’re better halved or whole. Don’t forget turmeric, herbs, black pepper, and, of … Read more