Cover Design by Jo Bailey /
Typesetting by Megan van Staden
Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2019. ISBN 978-0-9951029-6-5. 344 pp.
Contents:
Jack Ross / Editorial: What makes a poem good? / 14-20
FEATURED POET
Stephanie Christie / 22
- Microchasm / 26
- Crossing the Park / 28
- Unfinished Objects / 29
- Amethyst / 31
- -OH / 32
- Mag[net]ic / 38
- Flow(n / 40
- Clod / 42
- Krisis. / 44
- Poverty Mentality / 46
- FleshselF / 48
- SQWANDER / 50
- Nix / 52
- Madeness / 55
- Stephen Hawking’s Dead / 58
- Mall Song / 59
- Parachute / 61
- Felt calculus / 63
- Bode / 64
Jack Ross / An Interview with Stephanie Christie / 68-74
NEW POEMS
Gary Allen / The God complex / 76
John Allison / Die Luft hier in Laft … / 77
Aimee-Jane Anderson-O’Connor / Mice / 78
Miguel Ángel Arcas / Finales de los sesenta / 79
– / The End of the Sixties [translation by Charles Olsen] / 80
Shelley Arlidge / Albatross / 81
Stu Bagby / Who is it who remembers? / 82
Tony Beyer / The Globe / 83
Victor Billot / So as not to wake / 85
Benjamin Blake / Lost Recordings / 86
Cindy Botha / My Mother’s Hands, Mine / 87
Mark Broatch / Kererū / 89
Steve Brock / Humble Wine / 90
Owen Bullock / not knowing / 91
Chris Cantillon / Truckdriver / 92
Marisa Cappetta / Homeless like bones / 93
Mariana Collette / DNA / 94
Rose Collins / the Port Hills hare considers rock fall risk / 96
Jennifer Compton / Cat Sitting in Brunswick East / 97
E J Doyle / Inheritance / 98
Rachael Elliott / Wheel / 99
Johanna Emeney / RLSV / 101
Bonnie Etherington / Catcall on Oakton Street / 103
Mike Evans / Impermanence / 104
Rachel J Fenton / Break / 105
Jess Fiebig / morning after / 107
Sue Fitchett / I, robot / 108
Katie Fitzpatrick / Confession / 109
Dara Flaws / Dad / 110
Alexandra Fraser / Piha night / 112
Kim Fulton / This is it, Ruahine Range / 113
Ruth Hanover / The Oranges / 115
Paula Harris / I will go on tour and read my poetry all over the world / 116
Jenna Heller / tanka / 118
Sara Hirsch / Nocturnal / 119
Joy Holley / Twenty / 121
Alice Hooton / Lover / 122
Amanda Hunt / Family Skeletons / 123
Gail Ingram / Morning flight / 124
Ross Jackson / The exit / 125
Adrienne Jansen / The children in the dark canoe / 126
Lincoln Jaques / The Things He Left Behind / 127
Annie Tuarau Jones / For My Sister / 129
Robert Kempen / Hey, what is going on / 130
Paula King / The Square / 132
Elizabeth Kirkby-McLeod / The Daughter Goes To Hospital By Car / 133
Katrina Larsen / Life is Like a Bag of Cats / 134
Jessica Le Bas / Near Blind Channel / 135
Wes Lee / By the Lapels / 137
Michele Leggott / the wedding party / 138
Izzy Lomax-Sawyers / Pre-loved / 141
Olivia L. M. / The harrowing ... / 142
Victoria McArthur / Self Portrait / 143
Olivia Macassey / Elephants / 145
Isabelle McNeur / Moss / 146
– / Happy Parents under the Microscope / 147
Mary Macpherson / On being unwilling to click ‘I forgot my password’ / 149
D. S. Maolalai / Raspberries / 150
Ria Masae / Children’s Eyes / 152
Layal Moore / Two / 154
Margaret Moores / Black and white / 155
Martha Morseth / The street / 156
Fraser Munro / Paper bags don’t have feelings / 157
Emma Neale / The TastiTM Taste Guarantee / 158
– / Affidavit / 160
Keith Nunes / In the bookshop uttering / 162
Stephen Oliver / Protocols / 164
Bob Orr / The Vegas Girl / 166
Hayden Pyke / Danger is my Family Name / 167
essa may ranapiri / Gallows / 168
Vaughan Rapatahana / Rangiaowhia, 1864 / 169
– / ngā rākau / 171
Ron Riddell / Remains of the Day / 172
Gillian Roach / The Object Disappeared / 173
Fiona Roberton / Chinese medicine / 174
Jeremy Roberts / A Movie Ticket & a Little Bit of Philosophy / 175
Siobhan Rosenthal / Whanau / 176
Dadon Rowell / Lily Bennett / 177
Sigune Schnabel / Grenzland / 178
– / Borderland [translation by Simon Lèbe] / 179
Sarah Shirley / Long lie / 180
Tracey Slaughter / mostly a/b/c/d / 181
– / archaeological / 183
Barry Smith / Arrival / 184
Ian C. Smith / Remembering Willie Pep / 185
Lauren J. Smith / you never know what’s on the other side / 186
Elizabeth Smither / Ten conductors / 187
– / Strange dream / 188
Stephen Smithyman / My Father and the Poplar Tree, 1979 / 189
John Tarlton / On Sabbatical / 190
Loren Thomas / Friends / 191
Tybalt / intimacy is a sick puppy / 192
Bryan Walpert / from Micrographia: Of the Bookworm / 193
– / Of the pores of bodies / 195
Laura Williamson / Wrong turn on the Hump Ridge Track / 196
Sue Wootton / from Typewriter songs: Anywhen / 198
– / Olivetti / 199
Sigred Yamit / Sweater / 200
Grace Yee / for the good husband / 201
Mark Young / Concerning / 203
Zuo You / I accepted his apologies (translation by Yi Zhe) / 204
COMPETITIONS
Poetry New Zealand poetry prize:
First prize ($500)
Wes Lee / The Things She Remembers #1 / 206
Second prize ($300):
Brett Gartrell / After the principal calls / 210
Third prize ($200):
Natalie Modrich / Retail / 213
Poetry New Zealand Yearbook student poetry competition
First prize (Year 11):
Aigagalefili Fepulea'i-Tapua'i / 275 Love Letters to Southside / 214
First prize (Year 12):
Kathryn Briggs / Earth is a Star to Someone / 217
First prize (Year 13):
Amberleigh Rose / Snake’s Tongue / 218
ESSAYS
Elizabeth Kirkby-McLeod: A Map of Effort
Elizabeth Kirkby-McLeod / Telling without Looking / 222-33
Jessica Pawley / Dreaming of Death: The Hangover of History in Derek Walcott’s ‘The Schooner Flight’ / 234-46
Erena Shingade / A Buddhist Hermitage on Great Barrier Island: Richard von Sturmer’s Suchness / 247-60
Richard von Sturmer: Clothesline on Great Barrier
REVIEWS
Ella Borrie / Owen Bullock / 262-64:
- Owen Bullock. semi. Glebe, NSW: Puncher & Wattmann, 2017. RRP $AU 25.00. 126 pp.
Mary Cresswell / Anna Jackson - Marlène Tissot - Tātai Whetū - Majella Cullinane / 265-70:
- Anna Jackson. Dear Tombs, Dear Horizon. Limited edition of 200 copies. Wellington: Seraph Press, 2017. RRP $20. 24 pp.
- Marlène Tissot. Last stop before insomnia / dernier arrêt avant l’insomnie. Trans. Anna Jackson & Geneviève Chevallier. Seraph Press Translation Series No. 3. Wellington: Seraph Press, 2017. RRP $20. 40 pp.
- Tātai Whetū: Seven Māori Women Poets in Translation. Ed. & trans. Maraea Rakuraku & Vana Manasiadis. Seraph Press Translation Series No. 4. Wellington: Seraph Press, 2018. RRP $20. 40 pp.
- Majella Cullinane. Whisper of a Crow’s Wing. ISBN 978-1-98-853122-9. Dunedin: Otago University Press / Ireland: Salmon Press, 2018. RRP $27.50. 88 pp.
Rachael Elliott / Rogelio Guedea - Jan Fitzgerald / 271-74:
- Rogelio Guedea. Punctuation. Trans. Roger Hickin. Lyttelton: Cold Hub Press, 2017. RRP $25.00. 48 pp.
- Jan Fitzgerald. Wayfinder: New & Selected Poems. Wellington: Steele Roberts Aotearoa, 2017. RRP $24.99. 64 pp.
Johanna Emeney / Michele Leggott / 275-78:
- Michele Leggott. Vanishing Points. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2017. RRP $27.99. 132 pp.
Matthew Harris / Mark Pirie / 279-82:
- Boots: A Selection of Football Poetry 1890-2017. Ed. Mark Pirie. Wellington: HeadworX, 2017. RRP $30. 102 pp.
- Mark Pirie. Sidelights: Rugby Poems. Wellington: HeadworX, 2017. RRP $20. 80 pp.
Elizabeth Kirkby-McLeod / Jenny Powell - Damian Ruth - Mercedes Webb-Pullman / 283-88:
- Jenny Powell. South D Poet Lorikeet. Lyttelton: Cold Hub Press, 2017. RRP $29.95. 88 pp.
- Damian Ruth. On Edge. Wellington: HeadworX, 2017. RRP $30. 134 pp.
- Mercedes Webb-Pullman. Track Tales. Magill, South Australia: Truth Serum Press, 2017. RRP $Aus 11.00. 118 pp.
Bronwyn Lloyd / John Howell - Annabel Wilson / 289-96:
- John Howell. Homeless. Submarine. Wellington: Mākaro Press, 2017. RRP $25.00. 68 pp.
- Annabel Wilson. Aspiring Daybook: The Diary of Elsie Winslow. Submarine. Wellington: Mākaro Press, 2018. RRP $25.00. 128 pp.
Elizabeth Morton / Michael Steven - Tony Beyer / 297-302:
- Michael Steven. Walking to Jutland Street. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2018. RRP $27.50. 88 pp.
- Tony Beyer. Anchor Stone. ISBN 978-0-473-341104-6. Lyttelton: Cold Hub Press, 2017. RRP $39.95. 166 pp.
Jack Ross / Dan Davin - Alistair Paterson - Johanna Emeney / 303-13:
- Dan Davin. A Field Officer’s Notebook: Selected Poems. Ed. Robert McLean. Lyttelton: Cold Hub Press, 2018. RRP $29.95. 82 pp.
- Alistair Paterson. Passant: A Journey to Elsewhere. London: Austin Macauley Publishers, 2017. RRP £8.39. 302 pp.
- Johanna Emeney. The Rise of Autobiographical Medical Poetry and the Medical Humanities. Studies in World Literature, 5. Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, 2018. RRP €29.90. 264 pp.
Richard Taylor / Keith Westwater - Peter Rawnsley / 314-20:
- Keith Westwater. No One Home: A Boyhood Memoir in Letters and Poems. Submarine. Wellington: Mākaro Press, 2018. RRP $25.00. 88 pp.
- Peter Rawnsley. Light Cones. Submarine. Wellington: Mākaro Press, 2018. RRP $25.00. 74 pp.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS / 322-40
ABOUT POETRY NEW ZEALAND / 342-43
Samples:
Massey University Press
Poetry New Zealand Index
Poetry New Zealand Website
Reviews & Comments:
- Anna Bowbyes, Poetry New Zealand Student Poetry Competition Winners. Massey University Press (24/8/18):
We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook Student Poetry Competition, judged by Jack Ross.
To read all the winning entries, click here.
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who entered!
The first-prize winners in each category will be published in next year’s edition of Poetry New Zealand Yearbook, publishing in March 2019.” - Aorere College Facebook Page (13/9/18):
A huge congratulations to Fili Fepulea'i-Tapua'i who has won the Year 11 category of the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook Competition.
Described as “hard-hitting,... from the heart" by competition Judge Jack Ross, Fili's winning poem- "275 Love Letters to Southside" will be published in the 2019 edition of the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook. What an awesome achievement!. - Amberleigh's winning way with words. Kuranui College Online Newsletter (19/9/18):
Kuranui Deputy Head Girl, Amberleigh Rose, has won first place in the high school section of the Massey University Press Poetry Yearbook competition, designed to foster a love of words.
Amberleigh’s poem entitled Snake’s Tongue is an unconventional poem about love, causing one of the judges to comment in their feedback that they liked it because “It was a bit different and showed wisdom beyond her years”.
“It’s what I call my weirdo poem,” explained Amberleigh. “It’s not straightforward and it twists and flicks, keeping you guessing.”
The poem is going to be in next year’s edition of the yearbook and someday she would like to write a book of poems herself. For Amberleigh, poetry is a passion, especially slam poetry. “I love the way the words feel and their sound, the meaning behind how you speak and what message you’re trying to send.”
Growth, another one of Amberleigh’s poems, was chosen to be a part of Christine Daniell’s ‘Poems Around Town’. The street art project focuses on fostering a love of words. A panel chose poems from Wairarapa to hang up around the community and Amberleigh’s poem has pride of place on the side of the Trust Lands Trust building in Masterton.
Writing comes naturally to Amberleigh, but it wasn’t until she experienced poetry that her creative side really took off. “It was like a key had turned inside me and there was no going back.”
Kuranui’s Head of English, Kathryn Holmes, said her work ethic and natural ability has meant that she has excelled at the college. “However, it is her heart that makes her very special; this adds depth to her poetry which means her message can resonate with the reader.”
Apart from writing poetry, Amberleigh also excels in the sciences and her love of environment and communities has seen her enrol in Canterbury University, where she will study Natural Resource Engineering. “I am interested in making our world a cleaner, better place.” - Congratulations Kathryn Briggs. Baradene College of the Sacred Heart (1/11/18):
In Term 3, Kathryn's poem "Earth is a star to someone" received 1st place for the Year 12 category of the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook competition run by Massey University. This poem will be published in next year’s edition of 'Poetry New Zealand Yearbook'.
Click here to read 'Earth is a star to someone'.” - Nicola Legat, Massey University Press website:
A dose of terrific new New Zealand poetry
Poetry New Zealand Yearbook, this country’s longest-running poetry magazine, showcases new writing from New Zealand and overseas. It presents the work of talented newcomers as well as that of established voices. Issue #53 features 130 new poems — including work by this year’s featured poet, Stephanie Christie — essays, and reviews of 30 new poetry collections.
Continually in print since 1951, when it was established by leading poet Louis Johnson, this annual collection of new poetry, reviews and poetics discussion is the ideal way to catch up with the latest poetry from established and emerging New Zealand poets.
Praise for the 2017 edition:‘It’s all too easy to look around at naked bachelors marrying at first sight, and clowns clowning where current affairs used to be, and despair about the state of the world and the taste of the people in it. But then, the Poetry Yearbook turns up again, to show there is still room for sophistication and quality at a reasonable price.’ — Paul Little, North & South
For a full list of the poets featured in this year’s edition and to read the introduction, click here.CATEGORY: Creative arts
ISBN: 978-0-9951029-6-5
ESBN: N/A
PUBLISHER: Massey University Press
IMPRINT: Massey University Press
PUBLISHED: 08/03/2019
PAGE EXTENT: 344
FORMAT: Soft cover - Jesse Mulligan, "1-4." Celebrating New Zealand Poetry (Monday 11 March 2019):
Poetry New Zealand Yearbook's 2019 edition is out now, focusing on Hamilton poet Stephanie Christie, and containing more than 120 poems.
The country's longest-running poetry journal also features the work of young kiwi poets, winners of the inaugural competition for high school students.
Dr Jack Ross, senior lecturer at Massey University and managing editor of Poetry New Zealand, joins us now to give us a taste of what's in the yearbook.
Duration: 12′ 17″ - Jennifer Little, "New Poetry NZ Yearbook moves in many ways." Voxy.co.nz (Wednesday 13 March 2019):
"I feel the most proud of this volume," says Dr Ross, of the fifth consecutive edition of the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook he has edited, not including one as a guest editor some years ago.
He says in the book’s introduction, What makes a poem good?, that being moved emotionally has increasingly become his sense of a successful poem, which may be about something funny, or painful or revealing. "It’s not that I sit here boo-hooing as I read through all the submissions for each issue - but every now and then something in one of them sits up and looks alive, persuades me that something is being worked out here that might be relevant to others simply because it seems so relevant to me."
Mostly, he hopes the book will help to make poetry more visible, more accessible and maybe ignite new interest among a wider, more culturally diverse audience. This edition is his last as editor for the time being - he is handing the editorial reins for the next issue over to Dr Johanna Emeney, a published poet and creative writing lecturer at Massey. He is hoping to be able to devote more time to working on his own writing, with a project in the pipeline to explore his longheld fascination about ghost stories and the psychology behind them. - Jennifer Little, "New Poetry NZ Yearbook moves in many ways." Massey News (Wednesday 13 March 2019):
Dr Ross, a poet, editor and senior lecturer in the School of English and Media Studies at Massey’s Albany campus, says the task of sifting through over a thousand submissions to choose 130 for the book is formidable as well as a tremendous privilege. Always with an ear tuned for fresh and challenging new voices and views, he has mustered a bracing array of poetry from a diverse set of writers.
From modern probes into religion, romance, love, death and loss to the inner lives of a retail worker, a refugee, a doctor, a drunk – the eclectic mix offers poems in a multitude of forms, including prose pieces. As well as captivating lines by emerging poets there is new work by some of the country’s most respected names, such as New Zealand’s inaugural Poet Laureate Michele Leggott, along with Elizabeth Smither, Emma Neale and Bob Orr. There are dual-text poems too, in Chinese, German, Spanish and te reo Māori, as well as 20 poems and an interview with featured Hamilton poet Stephanie Christie.
- Paula Green, "Poetry Shelf review: Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2019." NZ Poetry Shelf (26 March 2019):
Poetry New Zealand Yearbook always offers a substantial selection of poetry. This issue includes essays, reviews and the results of two poetry competitions, along with poems from new and established poets. I started reading the issue – I always dip and dive into literary journals – and made notes, gathering the poems that ‘spoke to me’. But then I hit the rest button and realised I was running on empty post big project. I have lain on a couch for a week and stared at the sky and after the horrendous terrorist event in Christchurch everything feels different. Because everything must be different. What happens when I pick up this journal again with a raucous bust-up of questions in my head: How to live? How to speak? How to connect? How to write a poem? How to run a blog? How to widen us and make room for past, present and future, to celebrate the good things and challenge the rest?
I picked up Poetry New Zealand again and started at the first page. No dipping and diving. Just tracking an alphabet of voices and letting poetry work its magic. - Harry Ricketts, "Book review - Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2019." Nine to Noon, with Kathryn Ryan (Tuesday 4 June 2019):
Harry Ricketts from quarterly review periodical New Zealand Review of Books Pukapuka Aotearoa reviews Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2019. Edited by Jack Ross, this collection is published by Massey University Press.
Duration: 9′ 07″ - Emma Shi, "Book review: Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2019." The Reader: The Booksellers New Zealand Blog (13 June 2019):
I look forward to The Poetry New Zealand Yearbook each year, because it’s so wonderfully filled with all things poetry. It’s also a great way to see the current landscape of New Zealand poetry, with familiar names making an appearance alongside newer poets.
... I also appreciate the addition of reviews and essays in Poetry New Zealand, since creating discussions about poetry is also a rewarding process that brings new ideas to life. As well as being an important space for the work of New Zealand poets, this new instalment will inspire writers to continue writing and to introduce new methods in their craft.
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photograph: Mary Paul
Complete Interview:
10 Questions with Jack Ross
Editor of Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2019
This interview appeared on the Massey University Press website on 16th January 2019:
- Another Poetry New Zealand Yearbook is off to print. What are the strengths of the 2019 edition?
- How many submissions were there this time around?
- Was sifting through them to arrive at your shortlist of 126 any less challenging than usual?
- There’s a great spread of age and experience in this book. Does the number of young writers bode well for poetry in New Zealand?
- Why do some poets get two poems?
- This year’s featured poet is Stephanie Christie. When did you first come across her and why did you decide to feature her?
- Not one but two competitions this year! Tell us about the Poetry New Zealand poetry competition winners announced in this edition.
- And give us an insight into the student competition entries and winners.
- Can you see any sort of shift in content between the time six years ago that you took the helm as editor and this edition?
- Are there poetry books on your beside table at present or something else? What are you reading at the moment?
I think this may well be the issue I’m proudest of so far. We have a very strong poetry feature, from one of New Zealand’s most original — though still strangely neglected — poets. We have a nice blend of essays, ranging from the very personal (Elizabeth Kirkby-McLeod’s piece on her father’s suicide) to the profoundly learned (Erena Shingade’s analysis of Richard von Sturmer’s Zen poetics). We have deeply considered reviews of a range of recent books. Above all, though, we have a positive cornucopia of poems by hordes of poets old and new. I defy anyone not to find something to like in there.
272 email submissions (more or less) , together with 11 mail submissions: averaging four or five poems each — I guess that would add up to something like 1275 poems I had to read through to come up with the 100-odd I was able to include.
No. It always takes far longer than I think it’s going to. First there’s the reading, and the initial winnowing of as few submissions as possible into the ‘potentials’ file. Those few keep on growing and growing, alas, because so many writers send in so many fine poems. Then there’s the final cutting and slashing at the longlist of poems I’d like to put in, designed to transform that category into poems I simply have to include.
Well, yes, I think it does. Mind you, the subject matter of their poetry tends to be darker than I would like sometimes — but there’s no denying that the intensity of the emotions these young writers feel tends to concentrate their work amazingly. There’s nothing diffuse or self-indulgent about the best of them. But they seem only too aware that they’ve been doomed to live in interesting times. Franklin Roosevelt said in the 1930s that the generation then coming of age had ‘a rendezvous with destiny’ ahead of them. As it turned out, he was quite right. I can’t help feeling that the same may be true of this generation, too.
That’s an interesting one. I guess I start off looking for one poem from each submission, but some writers strong-arm me into taking more than one: the sheer merit of their work demands it. The default setting remains one each, but I can’t deny myself — and our readers — the pleasure of reading two excellent poems if they’re there on the page. It’s certainly got nothing to do with famous names or poetic reputations: just the quality of the work submitted.
I think I first met Stephanie in the early 2000s. I’d seen her work in brief, and had in fact discussed it with the then editor, John Geraets. I didn’t really get it at the time, but he said that she lived in the same apartment block, and had shown him some work and he thought it at the very least worth taking a punt on. But then I heard her read at Poetry Live, and it was quite a revelation. I could see that she understood precisely what she was doing in fragmenting and breaking up her words in such an ostentatious and flamboyant way. I do understand why some readers continue to resist this L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E-influenced approach to poetry, but for myself I’ve long since concluded that her body of work has lasting value. To me, in fact, she’s one of New Zealand’s most unsung and undervalued poets.
Yes, two quite different competitions. The first was the usual selection of the most outstanding poems submitted for each year’s issue. It’s an invidious choice, but when I first read Wes Lee’s poem ‘The Things She Remembers #1’, it completely transfixed me. When I heard it had already been accepted for publication elsewhere, I felt quite stricken. Luckily, though, the other magazine didn’t follow through, so I was happy to grab it for our pages. Brett Gartrell’s ‘After the principal calls’ was another strong contender for the top spot. Natalie Modrich’s ‘Retail’ is a bit of a change of pace, but it’s very amusing (it seems so to me, anyway). The winners this year are longer than in previous years: but I felt in each case that they needed that length to create the complex emotions their authors were dealing with.
The second competition, for school kids from Years 11, 12 and 13, was a real joy to judge. I chose a winner and three runners-up for each level, and I was spoiled for choice. The first prize winners from each have been included in the issue. There’s nothing naïve or half-formed about these poems, I have to say: they’re strong, confident work, by young writers who have a great deal to say. I hope that this success will help in encouraging each of them to keep writing: these are the kinds of young poets we will need in the future, I feel. I suppose that my personal favourite would have to be Aigagalefili Fepulea‘i-Tapua‘i’s passionate anthem ‘275 Love Letters to Southside’, but I like the slinky sensuality of Amberleigh Rose’s ‘Snake’s Tongue’ and the Joni Mitchell-like idealism of Kathryn Briggs’ ‘Earth is a Star to Someone’ very much also.
That’s an interesting question, too. Those first two issues look a bit tentative to me now. I hadn’t quite defined how my version of Poetry New Zealand would differ from Alistair Paterson’s — nor (for that matter) how the look of it might diverge from John Denny’s pared-back layouts. Nor did I realise at that stage that opening up the magazine to online submissions would encourage so many younger – as well as so many international — poets to send in work. The main difference, though, is that the poetics section, the essays and reviews, has grown much more varied and interesting — the poetry section was always strong.
Well, at present I’m engaged in the rather lengthy task of rereading the greatest of the four classic Chinese novels: the Hung Lou Meng, or Red Chamber Dream (also known as The Story of the Stone). The Penguin translation, which I’m using this time — in preference to the only other complete version in English, from the Beijing Foreign Languages Publishing House — is in five volumes, so you can see that it’s quite an undertaking.
As for poetry, I have to admit that my bedside book right now is Rudyard Kipling’s Complete Poems. I’d always meant to read him all the way through, and the appearance of the new Cambridge edition — a copy of which I found second-hand in a bookshop in Lyttelton — has encouraged me to do so at last. He’s a bit of an acquired taste to those of us brought up on pared-back Modernism, but he’s still surprisingly readable (and really no more reprehensible politically than T. S. Eliot or Ezra Pound ...)
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