Cover image: Karl Chitham / cover design: Anna Brown
Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2 [Issue #50] (November 2015). ISSN 0114-5770. ii + 286 pp.
Contents:
Jack Ross / Editorial: What is New Zealand Poetry? / 7-10
Karl Chitham (2015)
FEATURED POET
Robert Sullivan / Bio-Bibliography / 11-12
- Condom on The Iliad / 13
- I am Michael Joseph Savage / 14
- I am Colonel Wynyard / 15
- I am Pomare II / 16
- Daddy / 17
- Nana / 18
- The surge black fissure / 19
- Sensory Garden / 20
- Māra kai / 21
- King Tawhiao’s Garden / 22
Jack Ross / An Interview with Robert Sullivan / 23-38
Robert Sullivan
[photograph: Bronwyn Lloyd]
OTHER POETS
James Ackhurst / A Rhinoceros / 39
Gary Allen / The deposition / 41
John Allison / Dead Reckoning / 42
Bill Angus / God knows what the dead bequeath / 43
Ruth Arnison / Not talking / 44
Nick Ascroft / Dumplings / 45
Sandra Bell / The Miners / 46
– / Juanita and the Girls’ Home / 48
Tony Beyer / Field (i.m. John O’Connor 1949-2015) / 50
– / Memento / 51
Jane Blaikie / Exchange / 52
Joy Blair / Seeing the Wood for the Trees / 53
Peter Bland / Tell Me More / 54
– / The Unicorns are Back / 55
Liz Breslin / Adlestrop / 56
Iain Britton / Fontainebleau – NZ / 57
Jennifer Compton / Giving Up on the Quarrel / 59
Ruth Corkill / Autumn in Highgate / 60
Sue Cowan / dear teacher / 61
Mary Cresswell / Bridges at Königsberg / 62
– / The Road Goes West / 63
Jeni Curtis / The Cherry Tree / 64
Jonathan Cweorth / Voyager Two, 1977 / 66
Belinda Diepenheim / Gravitas / 67
Eric Dodson / Legal High / 68
– / Dough Boys / 69
J. T. Drazin / A Chance Meeting / 70
Doc Drumheller / Half-Price Proverbs / 71
David Eggleton / Methusalem / 72
Rachael Elliott / 1992 / 76
Michael Farrell / By the Wind / 79
Sue Fitchett / the blink of an eye / 80
Anna Forsyth / Hungry Jack’s Sated Poet / 81
Kim Fulton / Paris, 2013 / 82
Rhian Gallagher / Learning to Read / 83
– / The Year Between / 84
John Geraets / five beauties / 85
Susan Green / Pukekaroro / 96
Siobhan Harvey / Serving Notice upon the Prime Minister / 97
– / Spaceboy Relative to His Solar Powered Home / 99
Felicity Heaven / My Love / 100
Sue Heggie / Anzac Day in Greytown / 101
Alice Hooton / Hallucinations of the Blind / 102
– / Autumn Falling / 103
Gail Ingram / Over Breakfast / 105
Sophia Johnson / Driftwood / 107
Leonard Lambert / Darwin’s Dice / 108
Jon Lepp / When approaching a farmer’s door: / 109
Simon Lewis / Big Noters / 110
– / A Sense of Place / 111
Olivia Macassey / Burnt Umber / 112
– / Do Not Trust These People: / 113
Carolyn McCurdie / Dance in the Local Hall / 114
Andrew McIntyre / The Black Hole / 115
Dawn McMillan / Sometimes when the rain stops / 116
– / Mr MacIntyre / 117
Mary Macpherson / Charge / 118
Vana Manasiadis / from Quantum Physics Tells Us Separation Is Only An Illusion / 119
Owen Marshall / White Dog / 122
– / Release / 122
Margaret Moores / She was not pregnant / 123
– / Lambton Quay / 124
Martha Morseth / Consider the metaphor / 125
– / Dream I / 126
Elizabeth Morton / Cerberus / 127
– / The Audience / 128
Heidi North-Bailey / Winter, Kings Cross / 129
Keith Nunes / an escalation / 130
Stephen Oliver / Broken / 131
Alistair Paterson / Cold Harbour / 132
– / Vehicles are Sold / 133
– / Landscape with pictures / 134
Milorad Pejić / Ocean Beach / 135
Sarah Penwarden / Lady-in-Waiting / 136
– / Charmed / 137
Mark Pirie / A Thoughtful Optional Extra / 139
Kerry Popplewell / At sparrow-fart / 141
Joanna Preston / Portrait of Great Aunt Lavinia as a Bathysphere / 142
– / Nightfall / 143
Vaughan Rapatahana / he wāhi hū mohoao / 144
– / kāore wareware / 146
Nicholas Reid / From the Sky Tower / 148
– / The Trail / 149
Dikra Ridha / The Last Day in My Country / 151
– / The Flower Beneath Baghdad / 152
David Romanda / Fast Food / 154
– / Angel / 155
Brittany Rose / To Dad / 156
Dagmara Rudolph / Mummy? / 159
Ken Ruffell / Streets Ahead / 160
Nurul Shamsul / The Liberation of Wine / 161
Kerrin P. Sharpe / cleaning the stables / 163
– / my teacher has no lungs / 164
Emma Shi / fingers stained with chlorine / 165
– / skipping dead insects across the ocean / 166
Jaspreet Singh / Emperor’s New Clothes / 167
Elizabeth Smither / Day Breaks in Dressing Gowns / 170
Kenneth Steven / Where / 171
Michael Steven / Omitted Entries from Lonely Planet Guides / 172
Marc Swan / On the road to euthanasia / 175
– / In retrospect / 176
Richard Taylor / Flowers / 177
– / I Have Cut Off My Own Head / 178
Vivienne Ullrich / Sonic Sisters Sestina / 179
Richard von Sturmer / from Songs for a New Identity / 181
Jen Webb / Metamorphoses / 183
– / Desire Lines / 184
Sue Wootton / Kids / 186
– / Forgiveness / 187
Karen Zelas / Elusion / 188
ESSAYS
John Geraets / Retrospective: briefly, briefly … / 189-203
Janet Newman / Prose Poetry: A Series of Abandonments / 204-11
Alistair Paterson / Poetry, Science and the Real / 212-22
REVIEWS
Mary Cresswell / Diana Brodie - Brentley Frazer - Vaughan Rapatahana - Maureen Sudlow / 224-32:
- Diana Brodie. Giotto’s Circle. ISBN 978-3-901993-41-1. University of Salzburg: Poetry Salzburg, 2013.
- Brentley Frazer. Kulturkampf: Selected Poems 1995-2015. ISBN 978-0-9941861-1-9. Brisbane: Bareknuckle Books, 2015.
- Vaughan Rapatahana. Atonement. Artworks by Pauline Canlas Wu; musical score by Darren Canlas Wu. ISBN 978-988-13115-1-1. Hong Kong: MCCM Creations for ASM/Flying Islands Books, 2015.
- Maureen Sudlow. Antipodes. ISBN 978-1-927242-69-8. Wellington: Steele Roberts Aotearoa, 2014.
Hamish Dewe / Charles Brasch / 233-36:
- Charles Brasch. Selected Poems. Chosen by Alan Roddick. ISBN 978-1-877578-05-2. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2015.
Rachael Elliott / Miriam Barr / 237-38:
- Miriam Barr. Bullet Hole Riddle. ISBN 978-1-927242-68-1. Wellington: Steele Roberts Aotearoa, 2014.
Johanna Emeney / Kerry Hines - Nina Powles / 239-43:
- Nina Powles. Girls of the Drift. 2014. ISBN 978-0-473-30843-8. Wellington: Seraph Press, 2015.
- Kerry Hines. Young Country. With Photographs by William Williams. ISBN 978-1-86940-823-7. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2014.
Matthew Harris / The Places Behind the Place / 244-47:
- Jack Ross. A Clearer View of the Hinterland: Poems & Sequences 1981-2014. ISBN 978-0-473-29640-7. Wellington: HeadworX, 2014.
Bronwyn Lloyd / Lies we tell ourselves / 248-50:
- Frankie McMillan. There Are No Horses in Heaven. ISBN 978-1-927145-67-8. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press, 2015.
Elizabeth Morton / Stephanie Christie - Anna Jackson / 251-54:
- Stephanie Christie. The Facts of Light. deciBel Series 001. Ed. Pam Brown. ISBN 978-1-922181-28-2. Sydney: Vagabond Press, 2014.
- Anna Jackson. I, Clodia, and Other Portraits. ISBN 978-1-86940-820-6. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2014.
Jack Ross / Mary Cresswell - David Eggleton - Iain Lonie - Jane Summer / 255-63:
- Mary Cresswell. Fish Stories. ISBN 978-1-927145-66-1. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press, 2015.
- David Eggleton. The Conch Trumpet. ISBN 978-1-877578-93-9. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2015.
- A Place To Go On From: The Collected Poems of Iain Lonie. Edited by David Howard. ISBN 978-1-927322-01-7. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2015.
- Jane Summer. Erebus. ISBN 978-1-937420-90-1. Little Rock, Arkansas: Sibling Rivalry Press, 2014.
Richard Taylor / The Gold Leaves / 264-68:
- Edward Jenner. The Gold Leaves (being an account and translation from the Ancient Greek of the so-called ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets). ISBN 978-0-9922453-7-5. Pokeno: Atuanui Press, 2014.
BOOKS & MAGAZINES IN BRIEF
Jack Ross / 269-73:
- Diane Brown. Taking My Mother to the Opera. ISBN 978-1-927322-15-4. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2015.
- Catalyst 11: My Republic. ISSN 1179-4003. Christchurch: The Republic of Oma Rāpeti Press, 2014.
- Martin Edmond & Maggie Hall. Histories of the Future. ISBN 978-1-877010-67-5. North Hobart, Tasmania: Walleah Press, 2015.
- JAAM 32: Shorelines. Ed. Sue Wootton. ISSN 1173-633X. Wellington: JAAM Collective, 2014.
- Julie Leibrich. A Little Book of Sonnets. ISBN 978-1-927242-29-2. Wellington: Steele Roberts Aotearoa, 2013.
- Emma Neale. Tender Machines. ISBN 978-1-927322-34-5. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2015.
- Richard Reeve. Generation Kitchen. ISBN 978-1-877578-92-2. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2015.
- Pat White. Fracking & Hawk. ISBN 978-0-473-32636-4. Aotearoa New Zealand: Frontiers Press, 2015.
CONTRIBUTOR NOTES / 274-85
Samples:
Poetry New Zealand Index
Poetry New Zealand Website
Reviews & Comments:
- Richard Taylor, "Comment." The Imaginary Museum (December 6, 2015):
PNZ Year Book is excellent! A great cover design. Interesting interview with Robert Sullivan and his and your comments on Atua Wera, and his that Pound was an influence as well as Smithyman and his deep research, which lead him into writing Star Waka which I have read although I have to concede that, despite owning Atua Wera I have never got to read all of it ... another thing to do. But it does look good for sure. (And last year the interview with Lisa Samuels was also interesting and inspiring, I noted she was interested in Georges Bataille so I am reading some of his work now as a result - a bit late, and of course in my case in English translation. There are a lot of poems there and many very good. I read Geraet's essay / history of Brief which was good, and there are some other interesting things there: many in fact ... it is certainly a good production. - Johanna Emeney, "Poetry Shelf, Poet’s Choice: Johanna Emeney makes her picks." NZ Poetry Shelf (December 8, 2015):
... two journals I would recommend are Poetry London edited by Ahren Warner and Poetry New Zealand edited by Jack Ross. Both feature a nice balance of new poetry, essays and reviews, and are committed to featuring new as well as renowned poets. Ruth Arnison’s poem “Not Talking” in Poetry NZ Yearbook 2, November 2015 is one of the best, most heart-breaking, poems I have read all year. - Jennifer Little. "Te Reo Surge in Latest Poetry NZ." Voxy.co.nz (January 22, 2016):
Dr Ross has signalled further changes to the publication, with the next issue to be published early in 2017 by Massey University Press - a new press launched in 2015 and headed by veteran publisher Nicola Legat. To shorten the length of time some contributors have had to wait for a decision, he’s decided to confine submissions to a three-month period: from May 1st to July 31st of each year, beginning in 2016. - Zizi Sparks. "Poetry Editor's Diversity Call in New Edition." North Shore Times (February 4, 2016): 4.
Maori and young voices are lacking in poetry, Poetry New Zealand editor Dr. Jack Ross says.
The Massey University senior lecturer is sifting through hundreds of submissions for the magazine he's editing for the second time.
He says in focusing on the multiculturalism of New Zealand, biculturalism has been forgotten.
"I think everybody agrees that there's a lot of different cultures in New Zealand and traditions growing up."
"But my feeling is that if we concentrate too much on that diversity we slightly lose sight of the fact that we're a bicultural country."
He says Poetry New Zealand is a place for New Zealanders to have a voice.
"When I was invited to the magazine I started thinking about what it means to have a magazine called Poetry New Zealand. I thought how can one represent New Zealand poetry?", he says.
"It's important that there's a voice and I aspire to be representative but I can't create it myself and I can't ignore the other voices."
Ross wants to encourage young people and Maori to study or write poetry or literary arts.
"If you want to study it, we're a good place to go but if you want to sit in your room and write, send it to Poetry New Zealand."
The next issue of Poetry New Zealand will be published in 2017, and submissions will be open for three months starting May 1.
Complete Article:
Jennifer Little. "Te Reo Surge in Latest Poetry NZ." Massey University News (26 January 2016):
The question ‘what is New Zealand poetry?’ is the overriding one for editor Dr Jack Ross, as he sifts through hundreds of submissions for Poetry New Zealand. His answer? – we need to hear more Māori voices.
To remedy his observation that Māori poets have been overlooked in New Zealand publishing, he invited Māori poet Robert Sullivan to feature in the 50th issue – and Dr Ross’s second as managing editor – of Poetry New Zealand, the country’s longest-running poetry journal. The volume includes an insightful Q&A interview with the poet canvassing a range of issues such as biculturalism, poetry and identity.
Dr Sullivan, who has Irish and Māori (Ngāpuhi) ancestry, shares his views on the ethics and entitlement of non-Māori writers using Te Reo. “I used to think if you’re not Māori you shouldn’t be using Māori terms because you don’t understand the significance, but I’ve changed my mind about that,” he says in the interview. “I think it’s better to promote the use of the language. But bringing it into poetry – well, readers of poetry can be quite pernickety. They’ll look it up, and they’ll actually deepen an understanding of Māori poetics.”
Sullivan, who heads the creative writing programme at the Manukau Institute of Technology and edited a 2014 anthology of 60 Māori poets titled Puna Wai Kōrero: An Anthology of Māori Poetry in English (AUP), says he’s discovered more Māori poets since the book was published. “The story of Māori poetry in English and the story of Pasifika poetry in English is, I think, one that still needs to be told.”
Kapa haka heralds future of Māori poetry
He says the National Kapa Haka competition, Te Matatini, represents hope for the future of poetry in Te Reo Māori. “They might call it dance, but the lyrics are all poetry. And it’s flourishing. It’s got its own spot on Māori television…it’s not just haka that are being performed, there are waiata, love songs, tangi.”
His ten new poems featured in Poetry New Zealand delve into childhood memories of growing up in Auckland, as well as tributes to his parents and grandparents.
In his introductory editorial, Dr Ross makes the case for biculturalism as an underpinning element in defining New Zealand poetry. “For all its faults and omissions and blind spots, the Treaty remains the foundation of our state, and we can’t ignore the principles of biculturalism embodied in it,” he writes.
And while he welcomes the concept of New Zealand “poetries” as a: “rich gamut of cultures and language which now exist in our islands expressing themselves in many languages and forms”, he feels that “no definition of New Zealand poetry which attempts to sideline or depreciate poetry and song in Te Reo can be taken seriously.”
He hopes more Māori poets will submit work in the future, in English and Te Reo Māori.
Poets new and established, near and far
The 286-page volume, published last November by The Printery at Massey University, comprises poetry and prose poems by some 80 poets, including well-known names Elizabeth Smither, Owen Marshall, Peter Bland, Alistair Paterson, Siobhan Harvey and David Eggleton.
New Zealand poets based overseas and newcomers to New Zealand from diverse ethnic backgrounds are all part of the line-up, with a number of contributors either based in, or originating from, Bosnia, Canada, the United States, Scotland, Australia, and Japan.
Massey University writers include award-winning poet and Master of Creative Writing graduates Sue Wootton and Janet Newman, and award-winning poet and PhD in Creative Writing graduate Dr Johanna Emeney, as well as creative writing tutors Dr Matthew Harris and Dr Bronwyn Lloyd, and lecturer Dr Bill Angus.
Essays, commentary and reviews on new poetry publications by a host of local literary talents provide incisive explorations of some of the newest voices on the New Zealand poetry scene.
Dr Ross has signalled further changes to the publication, with the next issue to be published early in 2017 by Massey University Press – a new press launched in 2015 and headed by veteran publisher Nicola Legat.
And to shorten the length of time some contributors have had to wait for a decision, he’s decided to confine submissions to a three-month period: from May 1st to July 31st of each year, beginning in 2016.
Dr Ross – a poet, editor and critic who teaches fiction, poetry, and travel writing in the School of English and Media Studies at Massey’s Auckland campus – in 2014 replaced distinguished poet, anthologist, fiction-writer, critic and retiring editor Alistair Paterson, who oversaw Poetry New Zealand for 21 years.
The journal originated in 1951 when poet Louis Johnson began publishing his annual New Zealand Poetry Yearbook.
Was there a stand out poem for Dr Ross? “It's hard to single out any one person from so stellar a list of contributors, but I found the two pieces sent me by young poet Emma Shi sounded to me like messages from a strange new country I'd never visited before. She is, I believe, a powerful new talent whom I hope to hear much more from in the future,” he says.
To buy a copy, click here. Read more on Dr Ross’s poetry blog or check the Poetry New Zealand Facebook page here.
By Emma Shi:
skipping dead insects across the ocean
i wake up with fists clenched. the glass shimmers
and crushes under my fingers like wings. he
cites me as the one with broken knuckles. it
is easier, he says, to remember things that way.
i start to wear creased butterflies in my hair. then
stuffed in my coat pocket, wrapped in brown paper
like a parcel. on tuesdays, i carve words into
the shore: run, flight, fog. wait, watch as the
sea chases them away, and chase it back
till i’m up to my heart with water.
the last butterfly flickers away at high tide. i practise
breathing underwater but the fish gnaw at my skull
like metal. i don’t know what i’m waiting for, i
tell him, and he says, whatever’s left. so i press my skin
against seashells, forget how to breathe again.
By Dr Robert Sullivan:
Māra kai
Living on the other side of the Museum now
is the adult side. Grafton is where I was a child.
The things I know now I wish I knew then!
This sensory garden does invite the skin and ears.
I can hear the soft rain, cars swishing and thrumming,
the odd bird, splashes and drips, cool spring
on my soles even through my shoes,
the pressed warmth of the back of my left knee
on top of the right one, gentle movements
of the olive leaves, native and exotic bird calls –
some like ref whistles, others on slower patterns,
tyres like Velcro tears, birds like quiet
microwave ovens, muffled roaring vehicles,
circling wheels and spray.
I see the results of rain
by the splash of puddles, and see
the occasional drop from a leaf – that sort of rain –
the occasional cluck. The breeze
is like a big beer fridge.
The sunlight and the starlight know this.
•
Complete Interview:
"I Take Poetry Pretty Seriously."
A Chat With Jack Ross, Editor of Poetry New Zealand
This interview, by contributing editor Sanjeev Sethi, appeared in the The Review Review on 13th December 2016:
From the bowels of New Zealand breezes in Poetry New Zealand, each issue fragrant with literary flowers in the shape of poems, stories, reviews encapsulating rich and rewarding fare. Curating this creative smorgasbord is Dr. Jack Ross, the accomplished and erudite poet-writer-academician. A PhD in English from Edinburgh University, Ross is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Massey University's Albany campus.
Briefly tell our readers about yourself?
I work at Massey University, where I’ve been teaching various types of writing for the past twenty years. The principal focus of my own writing has, however, always been poetry, even though I’ve also published a number of novels, essays and other works of fiction and criticism.
As well as that, I run a blog, The Imaginary Museum [http://mairangibay.blogspot.co.nz], devoted to bookish matters generally.
Poetry New Zealand, “devoted exclusively to poetry and poetics,” started in 1951. Over the years, how do you see its evolution?
Poetry NZ began as an alternative to the centralising trends in New Zealand writing at that time, after the war, when New Zealand had just completed its first century of colonial occupation. The democratic and open-minded approach of its first editor, Louis Johnson, has (I hope) continued to inspire it in each of its various incarnations.
The longest-serving editor has been Alistair Paterson, who presided over the magazine for twenty years–from 1993 until I took over in 2014. He introduced a strong focus on poetics and experimental writing, as well as trying to forge stronger links internationally: with the UK, the USA, and also non-English-speaking writers, such as the French poets of New Caledonia.
A basic question: what is a good poem? Do you think this definition is culture-specific?
For me, a good poem is a piece of writing which is lively and provocative enough to force me ask myself if it really is a poem. In that sense, yes, it’s a personal as well as a culture-specific definition, since my own boredom with what I see as tired and conventional solutions to the problem of (as Kafka put it) “breaking the frozen sea within you” may not apply directly to other readers. They might see a book of neo-Shakespearean sonnets as enchanting, while I might see them as pointless and hackneyed. That’s not to say that I think it impossible to write a good poem in conventional metrical forms nowadays: just that I feel some significant re-imagining has to have taken place to make it really qualify as what I would call a poem.
While reading a submission can you gauge which part of the world the contribution is from?
Sometimes. Not always. One advantage of electronic submission methods is that I often have no idea where an author is from. It is, in any case, very secondary to me in comparison to the question of whether or not I like their work.
According to you, which part of globe is creating the best contemporary poetry?
New Zealand. No, seriously, I think in an age of mass communications it’s impossible to see any regions as particularly privileged creatively. I do think our poets write as well as anyone, though. There’s always been a do-it-yourself, anything-goes mentality here that encourages our writers to try crazy and offbeat things. I like that a lot. We haven’t been trained to avoid the usual mistakes, and the results can often be quite spectacular.
What must a submission have not to get a No from you?
Statistically, a massive number of submissions to the magazine will receive a “No:” at least two thirds of the work that’s been sent in, in fact. I regret that, but it does mean that I can let through only the pieces I’m really certain of.
Sending just one poem rather than our recommended selection of five is a good way to get rejected. Often it’s the last poem, the afterthought, in a group of submissions that really grabs me.
Another way to get rejected is to write so carelessly, with so many typos and grammatical errors, that it’s clear that your work has scarcely been edited. At times one wonders if it’s even been reread by its author! If you take no pride in the exactness and precision of your words, you can hardly expect me to supply that for you.
A naïve, direct poem by a first time author can often be very good. I’m sure I include some such poems in every issue. In general, though, just as with any other art, if you don’t know anything about poetry: hardly read it, are ignorant of technique, have never studied its history, that’s not really a great start.
I take poetry pretty seriously: it fascinates me, in fact. But it’s just like learning a foreign language: you can pick up a few phrases on the street, and eventually learn to get by in conversation, but you’ll never be really fluent unless you devote time and energy to it.
Any favourite themes?
I do try to be pretty eclectic in my tastes. I must confess to a bit of prejudice in favour of poems with a narrative dimension, though. If your poem tells a story, it’ll probably get my attention more quickly than if it indulges in complicated wordplay or lengthy landscape evocation.
Do you think a vibrant critical climate helps in nurturing poetry?
Absolutely. Very much so. At present Poetry NZ maintains a ratio of roughly one third critical writing (essays, interviews and reviews) to two thirds poetry. I’d like–if possible–to increase that over time. I’d be quite happy to see the ratio running half and half.
There really is no point in a cacophony of voices all shouting as loud as they can–many of them, alas, more interested in promoting their own careers than improving the quality and appeal of their work–if there’s no strong structure of critical writing and thought behind it.
I try to commission reviews of as many as possible of the poetry books that appear in New Zealand, as well as a number of international ones. As I’m sure you know yourself, though, reviewing is a difficult and thankless task, and it does require a certain subordination of the ego which not everyone is willing to make.
Any last words?
Yes, I’d like to conclude by saying that while the main focus of Poetry NZ must remain an anatomy of the nature of the poetry produced in this country – in itself a massive task – the last thing I think we should be doing is cutting ourselves off from international trends in poetry. Poets from elsewhere will always be welcome to submit to us, and there’s absolutely no requirement for them to address – or even think about – specifically “New Zealand” issues when they do so.
If you send us your best work, we’ll be happy to include it. And that goes for work in translation and dual-text, too. New Zealand is both a multicultural and a multi-lingual society now, and a true reflection of its poetic identity involves vital questions of language as well as culture.
As a postcolonial state, New Zealand (like many other countries) is only now beginning to come to terms with the theft of land and sovereignty from its indigenous inhabitants, the Maori. That’s as much of a poetic as a political issue for us. We have to try to imagine our way out of these blank walls of hatred and suspicion, try to create a harmony based on mutual respect and justice.
Sanjeev Sethi has published three books of poetry. This Summer and That Summer (Bloomsbury, 2015) is his latest. His poems have found a home in Solstice Literary Magazine, Off the Coast Literary Journal, Hamilton Stone Review, Literary Orphans, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, Pyrokinection, Café Dissensus Everyday, Section 8 Magazine, The Jawline Review, The Helios Mss, Right Hand Pointing, Revolution John, Futures Trading, The Aerogram, The Mind[less] Muse, Creative Talents Unleashed, Chronogram, Duane’s Poe Tree, The London Magazine, The Fortnightly Review, Ink Sweat and Tears, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Allegro Poetry Magazine, Amaryllis Poetry, New English Review, The Galway Review, A New Ulster, In Between Hangovers, The Open Mouse, Otoliths, and elsewhere. He lives in Mumbai, India
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