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
In the spirit of Mental Health Awareness Week, writer Carolyn Gillum has put together five poetic ‘cures’: poetry as a prescription for anxiety and stress, for feeling less alone, for insight into yourself and the world, for hope and for friendship. Poetry. Twenty-five years out of high school and the word still conjures the clink … Read more
All week this week we present new verse, to celebrate National Poetry Day on Friday. Today’s poet: Paula Harris of Palmerston North. if I were a queen, I would start wars out of sexual frustration I wouldn’t be a virgin queen – obviously – but I would be known to become incredibly tetchy … Read more
New Zealand poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh marks the very fine and wonderful occasion of the birth of a daughter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford. Jacinda and Clarke and the Baby and Us: A Rondeau The baby’s here, the baby’s here! Aotearoa, New Zealand, what a year! Jacinda, our partnered … Read more
Just a collection of concluding sentences in recent political commentary. The last week or two have been an ordeal for people tasked with covering party politics. As New Zealand First’s negotiating team has shuttled between the National and Labour suitors, lips have remained uncommonly sealed, and there hasn’t been an awful lot to, well, say. … Read more
Happy birthday today, Sam Hunt! To mark the occasion we present a poem by Selina Tusitala Marsh. Orange Crayon Stick Figure Man (on the occasion of reading “with’”Sam Hunt at the Parnell Rose Gardens, only to discover that “with” was employed euphemistically to describe sharing the same venue, but performing at different times) … Read more
New verse – he wrote it on Wednesday, actually – by Wellington writer Bill Manhire. Last words It’s nice out there, says the dying man. Yes, says the doctor, not too bad at all. Bill Manhire, 2017 The Spinoff Review of Books is brought to you by Unity Books.
New verse by Wellington writer Nick Ascroft. This Poem Is Guaranteed to Awaken a Coma Victim Is someone you love in a coma? A family member perhaps. Perhaps a pet. Perhaps you yourself are in a coma. Perhaps someone is reading this to you in the hopes of awakening you. If … Read more
New verse by Kaipara poet Sam Hunt. My father’s waistcoats My father’s waistcoats never had pockets. It was years later someone explained a good lawyer in court didn’t need notes… I never went with the law like my father would have liked. But I got to swing juries – … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer, academic and editor Harry Ricketts. Having trouble with your relationship? You may or may not be to blame. Don’t delay ‒ contact Dumper & Co today. Does he or she play home and away? Suspect them of being bi, straight or gay? Having trouble with your relationship? Some like it … Read more
New verse by Bill Nelson of Wellington. Someone needs to take control You should be planting autumn crops! The calendar says every morning from under its flimsy door magnets. Seed your onions! Mound your potatoes! In the real world, wild and disowned, heirloom tomatoes infiltrate silver beet. A patch of rocket, perhaps self-seeded, elbows a … Read more
A pantoum by Wellington writer Claudia Jardine. My Iron Cervix Whilst muttering all for my sexual prime, I lay on the bed and tried not to faint. The doctor was having a hard time so the nurse held my arm, a pre-emptive restraint. I lay on the bed and tried not to faint, … Read more
As it Happens In Queen’s Crescent off Malden Road one’s not likely to meet many once famous men and women, or current nearly-notables in with a chance of becoming household names in Britain. ‘There comes a time,’ an old geezer told me, ‘when you realise you’ve gone about as far as you can go.’ And … Read more