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
New verse by Kirikiriroa writer essa may ranapiri. what the poem isn’t allowed to do the poem isn’t allowed to say abolish the police abolish the police abolish the police return their uniforms to the dirt and their sirens to the odyssey tie a leash to a grenade and send it off teach it how … Read more
New verse by Auckland writer Ian Wedde. from Ode to Auckland When the weather warms up I swim in the murky Waitemata in the upper basin at the bottom of Hamilton Road. Sometimes my friend Jonathan is there, he’s a composer and swims about in a leisurely fashion shifting his rhythm from time … Read more
New verse by Auckland writer Murray Edmond. A new song of allegiance (apologies to R.A.K. Mason) Curnow Glover Brasch have fled (Stead’s still trying to get in bed) Manhire is my kind of guy It’s hard to say exactly why I bunked with Hunt now he’s drunk Come on mate don’t … Read more
New verse by Auckland writer Courtney Sina Meredith. 1 1 x mother 1 x ‘father’ 1 x shooting star Courtney Sina Meredith, 2018 The Spinoff Review of Books is proudly brought to you by Unity Books.
New verse by writer Mary-Jane Duffy. The invisible years The invisible older woman is in focus now. Sorry, she has you in focus now. She looks at you. She wants so much to look at you. She’s invisible. No one notices her. Good. The invisible older woman sneaks around the corner following that … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Chris Tse. Release Not before I stir you from your sleep, and ask whether this is the last time I’ll see you before you hop that plane for Sydney. We’ll hold each other, cheek to cheek, when we both hear the answer. Not before you slip on your trousers, hunt … Read more
New verse by Dunedin writer Emma Neale. Mère-mare Last night in my sleep my baby’s father came to take him away from me. I had borne a boy I was forbidden to hold though his mouth was sere and sore and golden colostrum welled in me like the cells’ own cry for … Read more
It’s Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day! All week this week we’ve presented new verse on the delicate subject of fucking; today, we present a poem of much greater significance and importance, by Michael Hall of Dunedin. Constructive Criticism Awww come on ref The guy’s clearly offside Aww come on ref That’s not a penalty Aww … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Helen Heath. That’s it We kiss goodbye in the morning – a peck on the cheek and that’s it. Then the phone call, like a bad movie. The next time I kiss you goodbye you are cold and still, and that’s it. Afterwards it’s mostly paperwork – the … Read more
New verse by the winner of the 2018 Ockham New Zealand national book award prize for poetry, Elizabeth Smither. Night time words to Ruby I hold you in my arms and say beautiful girl, beautiful girl. You do not want to go to bed: instead you say you’re instructed to lie between … Read more
New verse by Oturehua writer Brian Turner. Small Town Blues To hell with the songs of birds, the buzzing of bees and the breeze breathing in the trees, there’s always someone who thinks the whole village appreciates their taste in music. Brian Turner, 2018 The Spinoff Review of Books is proudly … Read more
New love poetry by Wellington writer Hera Lindsay Bird. I want to get high my whole life with you i feel it in my leather hotpant pockets i feel it in my anime wind blowing through an alpine tennis resort overcome with wildflowers i feel it in my ironic valley girl hairflip I feel it … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Jane Arthur, who pocketed $5000 last week as winner of the 2018 Sarah Broom Poetry Prize. Keanu is afraid I am afraid of the dark. But I mean that in a real philosophical way. – Keanu Reeves Keanu must seek out the light. The dark makes him feel so afraid: it’s … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Harry Ricketts. Grief Limericks i I once had a stepson called Max. As a child, he could rarely relax. The other kids kicked him; he was a natural victim. I once had a stepson called Max. ii I once had a stepson called Max, liked Gunn and … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer James Brown Liking Similes Here, the cicadas sing like Christian women’s choirs in a disused cotton mill. ‘Letter from the Estuary’ by Erik Kennedy When I hear cicadas, their singing always reminds me of Christian women’s choirs in a disused cotton mill. I picture the conductor’s arms bent in … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Claudia Jardine. The Vodka Rondeau In the spare room there is a bed below the mould and rusted red of the top flat’s hot water tank, which burst and made the room so rank that you can’t sleep there clear-headed. We are the deaded; few drinks bled … Read more
Classic verse from 1980 by John Cooper Clarke, ahead of his show at the Crystal Palace in Mt Eden on Saturday night. Evidently Chickentown The fucking cops are fucking keen To fucking keep it fucking clean The fucking chief’s a fucking swine Who fucking draws a fucking line At fucking fun and fucking games … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Rachel McAlpine. But when? Most of us are afraid of a slow fade, a late grave. Most of us equate old age with panic and despair and things we could not bear. We say, Not us! No way! We want to be hit by a bus. … Read more
In memoriam: Golden Bay poet Gordon Challis. Spinoff Review of Books literary editor Steve Braunias writes: Takaka writer Gordon Challis died on March 2. He was 85. His was a discrete presence in New Zealand poetry to the point where he was defined by absence: in 1960, Landfall editor Charles Brasch named Challis as one … Read more
New verse by Palmerston North poet Paula Harris. the life expectancy of a cloud I try to calculate if there is any point to health insurance or retirement savings or planning ahead women in New Zealand have an average life expectancy of 83.3 years giving us 3.3 years more than men … Read more
New verse by Kaipara writer Sam Hunt. My eldest brother the Atheist died Waitangi Day. No word from him no sign in vision or dream. He’s gone and gone for good like he said he would. My other brother, Jonathan, may he finds what he lives for a Catholic hereafter … Read more
New verse by Tayi Tibble, who was awarded the prestigious Adam Prize at Victoria University’s IIML this week. In the 1960s an Influx of Māori Women Move to Tinakori Road in their printed mini dresses. Grow flowers on white stone rooftops to put in their honeycomb vases. Dust the pussy-shaped ashtray their husbands … Read more
New verse by New Zealand-born writer living in England, Fleur Adcock. Hot Baths These days when anxious friends confide in me about their intimate medical problems it’s never that they’re afraid they’re pregnant and the situation is complicated by not being sure whether the father was that guy from Christchurch at my party … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Bill Manhire. Thread A new poem. Wow just wow A new poem that no one will forget any time soon. A new poem. I think it’s important. I wrote a new poem. You’ll be amazed at what happened next. It’s all about momentum A new poem #maintainingthebrand A … Read more
Political verse by Dunedin writer Diane Brown. Every day my name is out there Some say it’s pointless, we have no say but every day they land in my inbox or on Facebook, petitions asking for my name: on state housing, refugees, the TPPA, the writers imprisoned for telling the truth, the stoning of … Read more
New verse by New Plymouth writer Elizabeth Smither. The name in the freezer Someone we both disliked: you wrote his name on a slip of paper, folded it and inserted it in the freezer under a tray of ice cubes, next to a frozen chicken, frozen vegetables a casserole sectioned into cartons. … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Louise Wallace. Meryl Streep 1 Meryl Streep went nuts at me in the breakfast room, because I’d taken her table by mistake. Have a lovely day! I wanted to say as we left, but my husband, a calm and sensible man, convinced me to take the moral … Read more