Monthly Archives: April 2021
Poetry Shelf celebrates new books: Ash Davida Jane reads from How to Live with Mammals
1 Reply
How to Live with Mammals, Ash Davida Jane, Victoria University Press, 2021
Ash reads ‘water levels’
Ash reads ‘mating in suburbia’
Ash reads ‘transplanting’
Ash reads ‘carrying capacity’
Ash Davida Jane’s poetry has appeared in Mimicry, Sweet Mammalian, Starling, The Spinoff and elsewhere. Her second book, How to Live With Mammals, was published by Victoria University Press in April 2021. She lives and works in Wellington.
Victoria University Press page
Poetry Shelf Ash’s poem ‘undergrowth‘
Poetry Shelf Ash muses on ecopoetics
Poetry Shelf video spot: Jeffrey Paparoa Holman reads on The Blackhall Bathhouse video by Rob Edwards
A mesmerising video made by Rob Edwards
It includes Jeffrey Paparoa Holman reading ‘Sonnet XXXI’ from his The Late Great Blackball Bridge Sonnets (Steele Roberts, 2004)
Poetry Shelf noticeboard: Starling submissions close midnight 20 April
Go here for details
Poetry Shelf Monday Poem: Claudia Jardine’s ‘Rural Activites’
Rural Activities
which one was my favourite?
there was kickback from the rifle aimed at cans of spaghetti
which set my last good ear reluctantly ringing, but organs
grumbled on, oblivious, dedicated to their business
then, a bowstring chipped along a forearm, the obvious
smarting blush of focus lost – that’s all – just a rash
to impress upon oneself the importance of accuracy
how about the satisfaction of bowling
straight and spinning, after three wides?
even the llamas seemed to sense that
otherwise, catching the hawk
making hot circles in the haze before braking hard
in the macrocarpa – the host will copy her later and almost
clip a concrete wall, prompting a brief vision of a herniated
ute smoking in the darkness – but we kept
to our seats and let him turn up his dust – no, hey, I know
the sheep started to seem familiar – pumping
panic, split up, sorted, all of us
watching the same pink pair of shorts
thinking the shade had lost its cool and comfort
wondering how high one would jump
and if the gate could be cleared
Claudia Jardine
Claudia Jardine is a poet and musician who has recently returned to Ōtautahi. A selection of her poetry was published in AUP’s New Poets 7 alongside the work of Rhys Feeney and Ria Masae. More of her work can be found in Starling, Sport, Stasis and on her bandcamp webpage.
Poetry Shelf noticeboard: Poetry at Featherston’s Booktown
I am looking forward to heading to Featherston’s Booktown at the beginning of May. I am doing several events with children and several adult ones, including a two-hour poetry workshop with children (if you know any that might like to come to that!).
A poetry feast on offering too! There are short popUP poetry readings in the hall – I am reading about 11 am.
Here are a few poetry highlights (there are more):
Listen to Selina Tusitala Marsh at the Fish’n’Chip Supper
Catch the fabulous energy of the Show Ponies crew with MC Jordan Hamel
My poetry workshop for children
Catch up with Rose Lu (ok not poetry but this will be great!)
More poetry! Get ready for a little truth-telling from Caro DeCarlo, Emma Barnes, Vana Manasiadis, Rachel McAlpine and Helen Rickerby.
Continuing our series of Late Nite Lit events, emerging poets Mike Fitzsimons, Tim Grgec, Tayi Tibble and Sam Duckor-Jones will square off against more established Aotearoa poets Paula Green; New Zealand’s first Pasifika Poet Laureate, Selina Tusitala Marsh; and Rachel McAlpine in a poetry collision. If the event runs to schedule and there aren’t prone bodies all over the stage, MC Mary McCallum will invite members of the audience to take the mic. Poetry Collision is supported by Creative New Zealand.
I get to make my poetry picks for the Book Awards!
Poetry Shelf celebrates new books with readings: Ten poets read from Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2021
Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2021, ed Tracey Slaughter, Massey University Press
Poetry New Zealand is our longest running poetry magazine – it features essays and reviews, along with substantial room for poems. Tracey Slaughter has taken over the editorial role with the 2021 issue, a wide-ranging treat. A poet and fiction writer, she teaches creative writing at the University of Waikato. Her new collection of short stories, Devil’s Trumpet, has just been released by Victoria University Press.
Winners of the Poetry New Zealand Poetry Prize and the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook Student Poetry Competition are included. Aimee-Jane Anderson-O’Connor is the featured poet. To celebrate the arrival of the new issue – with 182 poems by 129 poets – I invited a few to read.
Cadence Chung reads ‘Hey Girls’ (First Prize, Year 12, Poetry New Zealand Yearbook Student Poetry Competition)
Brecon Dobbie reads ‘Diaspora Overboard’
Nida Fiazi reads ‘the other side of the chain-link fence’
Lily Holloway reads ‘The road to the hill is closed’
Michele Leggott reads ‘Dark Emily’
Aimee-Jane Anderson-O’Connnor reads ‘Cat’ and ‘If the heart is meat made electric’
Kiri Piahana-Wong reads ‘Before’
essa may ranapiri reads ‘Hineraukatauri & Her Lover’ (for Ruby Solly)
Jack Ross reads ‘Terrorist or Theorist’. Listen here
Michael Steven reads ‘The Gold Plains’
Cadence Chung is a student at Wellington High School. She first started writing poetry during a particularly boring maths lesson when she was nine. Outside of poetry, she enjoys singing, reading old books, and perusing antique stores.
Brecon Dobbie recently graduated from the University of Auckland with a BA in English and Psychology. She is currently writing as much as possible and trying to navigate her place in the world. Some of her work has appeared in Minarets Journal, Howling Press and Love in the time of COVID Chronicle.
Nida Fiazi is a poet and an editor at The Sapling NZ. She is an Afghan Muslim, a former refugee, and an advocate for better representation in literature, particularly for children. Her work has appeared in Issue 6 ofMayhem Literary Journal and in the anthology Ko Aotearoa Tātou | We Are New Zealand.”
Lily Holloway (born in 1998, she/they) is a forever-queer English postgraduate student. Her creative writing has been published in Starling, Scum, The Pantograph Punch, Landfall and other various nooks and crannies (see a full list at lilyholloway.co.nz/cv). She is an executive editor of Interesting Journal and has a chapbook forthcoming in AUP New Poets 8. Lily is based in Tāmaki Makaurau, is a hopeless romantic and probably wants to be your penpal!
Michele Leggott was the New Zealand Poet Laureate 2007-09 and received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry in 2013. Recent collections include Vanishing Points (2017) and Mezzaluna: Selected Poems (2020). Michele coordinates the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre (nzepc) with colleagues at the University of Auckland. In 2017 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Aimee-Jane Anderson-O’Connor writes thanks to the support of some of the best people on this big watery rock.
Kiri Piahana-Wong (Ngāti Ranginui) is a poet and editor, and she is the publisher at Anahera Press. Her poems have appeared in over forty journals and anthologies, most recently in tātai whetū: seven Māori women poets in translation,Solid Air: Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word and Set Me on Fire(Doubleday, UK). Her first poetry collection, Night Swimming, was released in 2013; a second book, Give Me An Ordinary Day (formerly Tidelines), is due out soon. Kiri lives in Auckland with her family.
essa may ranapiri / tainui / tararua / ootaki / maungatautari / waikato / guinnich / cuan a tuath / highgate / thames / takataapui / dirt / dust / whenua / there is water moving through bones / there are birds nesting in the cavities
Jack Ross works as a senior lecturer in creative writing at Massey University. To date he’s published three novels, three novellas, three short story collections, and six poetry collections, most recently The Oceanic Feeling (Salt & Greyboy Press, 2021). He was the managing editor of Poetry New Zealand Yearbook from 2014-2019, and has edited numerous other books, anthologies, and literary journals. He blogs here.
Michael Steven was born in 1977. He is an Auckland poet.
NZ Poetry Shelf 