Te Henga

The slump of cliff, a fierce drop into the estuary
slumbering deadstill the muddy brown

A group of gulls gawping and squawking
wings outstretched in now silent flight
a strangely muted ocean, its soundtrack purring

It’s the smell of salted seaweed
it’s the beat of andagio sea
it’s a trail of weathered footprints

A woman crouches to photograph the gulls
a solitary surfer gazes at the waves
the stranded log sits like a beached whale amid storm debris

You shut your eyes to the rain-drenched memory
eyes settle upon the present tense
even the muffled voice of the dog walker
is in harmony with the thrum of the scrolling waves

Paula Green

Haere mai. Welcome to Poetry Shelf 2026.

In 2026 Poetry Shelf will celebrate poetry in Aotearoa, old and new, with features, reviews, themes, audio, interviews, special seasons, and poetry news.

Monday Poem will be back. Playing Favourites will be back (poems and books we love). A much loved feature, Cafe Readings, will be back. I will review new books, but I am also reviewing a few books from 2025 that I missed because my energy jar was precariously low.

In the next weeks some of the poets on The Ockham NZ Book Award for Poetry long list will do cafe readings. I am also posting a special feature to celebrate the poetry of Iain Sharp.

Do send me poetry news to post, especially events.
Do send me books to review (I cannot promise to review every book sent).

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 13th, which is the day his Ngāti Manu tūpuna signed Te Tiriti.

When I interview poets I often ask poets to choose a few words that matter as writers. I asked myself that this morning, as a writer yes, but more importantly as the creator of this site. I went into a field of glorious possibilities. How I want Poetry Shelf to connect, celebrate, advocate poetry that challenges, delights, intrigues, soothes, inspires, that advances myriad connections. I want Poetry Shelf to offer both balm and protest banners in these calamitous times. I am sitting here thinking we often don’t know the inner worlds, the struggles and the illuminations, of the person writing and performing next to us. I am thinking this as I pull together a feature to celebrate Iain’s poetry. I want to listen. I want to learn. I want to love. My word is love.