David Eggleton. Photo credit David Mackenzie

David Eggleton our new Poet Laureate was due to celebrate his laureateship with a wonderful April weekend at Matahiwi marae in Hawkes Bay, along with his invited poets (Michael O’Leary, Jenny Powell and Kay McKenzie Cooke) and guests.

The good news is the special event will be rescheduled but in the meantime you can enjoy poems from each of these poets with a welcome speech from host Marty Smith- and then look forward to other things the Poet Laureate Blog / National Library have planned.

Peter Ireland from the National Library introduced the night in:

The weekend of the 4th and 5th of April was to have seen a gathering of poets at Matahiwi marae in Hawkes Bay, where David Eggleton, current New Zealand Poet Laureate, would receive his laureate’s tokotoko, carved by Jacob Scott. Like most public gatherings at present, this couldn’t happen, though it will, later in the year.

Not doing something creates an opportunity to do something else in its stead and over the next few weeks we are featuring poetry to mark the weekend we couldn’t have. We begin with poems by David and the fellow poets he invited to join him at Matahiwi: Michael O’Leary, Jenny Powell and Kay McKenzie Cooke.

Then, from next week, there will be poems by former Poets’ Laureate: Bill Manhire, Elizabeth Smither, Michele Leggott, Cilla McQueen, Ian Wedde, Vincent O’Sullivan and Brian Turner, in solidarity with David, fellow poets, and friends of poetry everywhere.

Laureate readings began as part of the programme for the Te Mata Poet Laureate, and Bill Manhire started these with a reading in the Barrel Room at Te Mata Estate.

Go here to read the poems and for Poet Laureate Blog

You can also hear David read with Karyn Hay RNZ National