Te Tiriti Meditates

Haakina…

Remember the cicadas filling the air

Haaputa…

Feel the land beneath your toes slipping
with your jandals

Haakina…

Lift your eyes to the beach at Paihia

Haaputa…

And that sparkling wave, those oars dipping
rising at the side of the cutter

Haakina…

Hobson pulling on his hat and jacket

Haaputa…

We are one, be at one with him, be at one with them

Haakina…

Listen to the salute, boom.

Will that be American Express or Diners Club? asks Billy T. James.

Ka kimi patero ia. How embarrassing.

Robert Sullivan

Robert Sullivan is Aotearoa New Zealand’s 14^th Poet Laureate. He belongs to Ngāpuhi (Ngāti Manu, Ngāti Hau / Ngāti Kaharau) and Kāi Tahu (Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki) iwi and is also of Irish descent. He has won many literary awards. His most recent books are Hopurangi / Songcatcher (AUP) which was shortlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award at the 2025 Ockham Book Awards, Koe: An Aotearoa Ecopoetry Anthology coedited with Janet Newman (Otago University Press 2024) and a collection of essays coedited with Anna Jackson and Dougal McNeill, Te Whāriki: Reading Ten New Poets from Aotearoa (AUP 2025). Robert is Associate Professor in Creative Writing at Massey University. He lives in Ōamaru.

To launch Poetry Shelf 2026, our current Poet Laureate Robert Sullivan has written a sequence called “Tidbits of Te Tiriti”.  He wrote these Te Tiriti Tidbits in the voice of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. There will be one published each day for this Waitangi Day weekend, and then a fifth one on Feb 17th, which is the day his Ngāti Manu tūpuna signed Te Tiriti.

Wardini Books: Really, really, truly, madly, deeply looking forward to our The Cuba Press event this Thursday. Simon Sweetman is one of the guest writers and he’ll be talking about this volume of poetry, The Richard Poems, ‘a wild ride,’ says our Emma.

Join us – it’s free and fabulous and kicks off at Havelock North Library, 6pm, Thursday 12th Feb.

Aotea Square

Enter a living canvas of words, movement, and sound.

A vibrant, multi-sensory spoken word experience celebrating Tāmaki Makaurau’s diverse poetry communities, hosted by MC Renee Liang – playwright, essayist, and poet.

Discover an eclectic mix of styles and voices: slam, Pasifika, te reo Māori, migrant perspectives, experimental works, and youth poets.

Unleash your own creativity! Prompting poets to create spontaneous poems in real time and poetry karaoke covering classic works.

Explore a kaleidoscope of activities: wander through chalk poetry, browse a market of books and zines, create blackout poetry on the Poet-tree, and craft visual poems with collage stickers and words..

Te Tiriti and the Silvertop

As a child I hated
the silvertop milk
and its cream plugging
the shaft of the bottle.
The milk below
was watery.
Now I go out
of my way
to find
the bottles
which expire
on Feb 6th.

Robert Sullivan

Robert Sullivan is Aotearoa New Zealand’s 14^th Poet Laureate. He belongs to Ngāpuhi (Ngāti Manu, Ngāti Hau / Ngāti Kaharau) and Kāi Tahu (Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki) iwi and is also of Irish descent. He has won many literary awards. His most recent books are Hopurangi / Songcatcher (AUP) which was shortlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award at the 2025 Ockham Book Awards, Koe: An Aotearoa Ecopoetry Anthology coedited with Janet Newman (Otago University Press 2024) and a collection of essays coedited with Anna Jackson and Dougal McNeill, Te Whāriki: Reading Ten New Poets from Aotearoa (AUP 2025). Robert is Associate Professor in Creative Writing at Massey University. He lives in Ōamaru.

To launch Poetry Shelf 2026, our current Poet Laureate Robert Sullivan has written a sequence called “Tidbits of Te Tiriti”.  He wrote these Te Tiriti Tidbits in the voice of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. There will be one published each day for this Waitangi Day weekend, and then a fifth one on Feb 17th, which is the day his Ngāti Manu tūpuna signed Te Tiriti.

Double Book Launch: Bill Manhire and Jenny Bornholdt

11 February, 6pm, Unity Books Wellington
A joint launch of Lyrical Ballads by Bill Manhire and What to Wear by Jenny Bornholdt will be held at Unity Books Wellington. Two extraordinary poetry collections from two of Aotearoa’s most beloved former poet laureates, launched by Robyn Marsack – not to be missed! Free entry, all welcome. Please note: this is a changed date from the one advertised in our December newsletter!