This past week I have spent creating my poetry room inside the house so our daughter can live in the outside room for awhile. Not quite there yet as it’s a mammoth job! Such a terrific thing to do – discovering old friends, a few books I have yet to read, getting new ideas, and above all, recognising the incredible range of poetry we are publishing in Aotearoa. The university presses are publishing strong lists and must-have anthologies, and the smaller presses excel at bringing an equally inviting range of voices to our attention. I believe our poetry publishers are all producing books with love and heart and it shows. Thank you.

Matariki is a time of connections – connecting with whanau, ancestors, the land, the food we harvest, the food we share, our wellbeing, the stars in the sky. It is a reminder to be kind, to seek unity rather than division, to heal and to nourish. If we as writers and readers can use our words, stories and poems as a vital form of connection and nourishment, then that is a strengthening agent in this challenging world.

This week in my letterbox:

Based on a True Story, David Gregory, Sudden Valley Press, 2024

Weekly Links

Monday: David Eggleton poem

Tuesday: Majella Cullinane Meantime feature

Wednesday: Rachel McAlpine 5 Questions

Friday: Celebrating Matariki

On Poetry Box

Stone Poems by children

Steph Matuku and Zac Ātea feature

Matariki poems by children