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

Over the summer months Poetry Shelf is hosting a series of readings from the incredible range of poetry collections published by mainstream and boutique presses in Aotearoa in 2024. I begin with David Gregory. I have dipped in and out of this glorious book over the past months. It has haunted me. It has delighted me. It has moved me. Now I get to hear him read two of the poems. Listening to him read this, I want more! Now I get to read the book again in his voice.

Here’s to a festival of summer readings on Poetry Shelf. Thanks to all the poets who are contributing.

a reading

‘Half a moon’

‘Half a Prayer’

David Gregory arrived in Christchurch NZ from the UK on a three year contract in 1982 and found a supportive literary community here. In spite of spending a year back in England on a job exchange, the pull of NZ was strong for him and his family. That whanau has grown to include four grandchildren.

He has worked on coastal environmental issues for most of his working life. He has combined this with establishing his reputation as a New Zealand poet with three books to his credit and a fourth due to be launched soon.His poetry has appeared in many NZ publications and a number of anthologies and has been performed at venues in NZ and overseas.

David is a founder member of the Canterbury Poets Collective. With the late John O’Connor, himself a noted poet, he established Sudden Valley Press (SVP).  SVP has published over thirty well-received poetry books. He is the current Manager and one of the editors for Sudden Valley Press.

Sudden Valley Press page

Love poem

Houses are likened to shoeboxes but shoeboxes are
not likened to houses. A car is likened to a heap but
a heap is not likened to a car. A child is a terror but
terror is not a child. A business might be a sinking ship
but a sinking ship is no business. A bedroom is a dog’s
breakfast but a dog’s breakfast is not a bedroom. A bad
review might be a raspberry but a raspberry is not a bad
review. A haircut is likened to a disaster but a disaster
is not a haircut. Books can be turkeys but turkeys are
never books. A holiday might be a riot but a riot is not
a holiday. A garden might become a headache but a
headache is not a garden. I dream about you but you
are not a dream.

Gregory O’Brien
from Beauties of the Octagonal Pool, Auckland University Press, 2021

Over the coming months, the Monday Poem spot will include poetry that has stuck to me over time, poems that I’ve loved for all kinds of reasons.

I have loved Gregory’s poetry across every collection, from Location of the Least Person (Auckland University Press, 1987) to House and Contents (Auckland University Press, 2022). He writes with sweet wit, word agility, sonic attention, across roving subject matter, and with deep-seated heart. I am always moved, surprised, in awe, nourished. The humour in ‘Love poem’ gets me every time, and then, when I reach the end, and the world stalls, I take a long inward breath, and say, yes, this is what poetry can do.

So let’s do poetry!

Gregory O’Brien’s recent projects include an exhibition of poems and paintings at the Manchester Poetry Library, U. K., Jan-Feb 2024, and  ‘Local Knowledge’, an exhibition of collaborative paintings made with Euan Macleod, which is at Te Manawa, Palmerston North, until March 2025.