Many of these poems are 'happenings' that spin out to their inevitable conclusion. Cleanly put, though the product of some fine observation and a keenly recalled memory. That there are few surprises here does not detract from the overall high standard of the editing. Some of the imagery does make you look sharply at what preceded it however. In 'Lawnbowlers, Queenstown', the poem ends "free to cradle / bowls the weight and shape / of babies heads" Nice. Cooke's poems about Central Otago concern themselves with what people do, or are doing, rather than pseudo-painter evocations of landscape and mood, as many poets do. There are elements of finely tuned hysteria in poems such as 're-runs' but the cat never gets out of the bag the poems ends "I'm in the garage, in a card board carton / there we are negatives and all. Dated / no fine lines, bodies taut as wire" This is pretty good work, I must say. Some are fugal; that is repeating the subject while leaving the original going, with variations implanted in each other. 'She leans, narrow' describes the woman who wears her husband's blue shirt. The final triumphant description: "she leans, / narrow / as a heron" Cooke takes what must have been a real event brilliantly into the imagination. And not even any hint of influence from the "great poets" here. Fancy free, raw desire jumps at you from many of these poems: ' The Game' (after all, isn't that what life is?): "If I could be anything / I wanted to be, I'd be a dark-blue / biplane that appears / out of nowhere" Of the longer poems, I liked "Old Scars' best. There is enough here to give you great moments of delight and indeed, intriguing discovery. This, in my opinion, amongst the pick of the best books of poetry in 2002.
CHANTAL'S BOOK poems by Jack Ross. HeadworX Press, Wellington, New Zealand. 112pp $19.95
Congratulations to Mark Pirie and his HeadworX Press for helping to keep poets like Jack Ross in print. Ross is one of quite a number of poets in New Zealand to develop and publish since 1990 whose work is striking, innovative and deeply satisfying. Chantal the pretty, but an enigma. To find out something about the title you go to "There's something about Chantal
' "ha a
. a / loving heart / (can I say that?) / I like her upper lip". Chantal, he image of eternity and universality. The persona of the known and the unknown. Not too many clues given here. You have to search. Ross's main idea of form is formlessness. There are haiku-type arrangements in words, sometimes in italics, centered, or just the occasional bright couplet. 'Girls on a Film' ends "You carry / a green fabric dinosaur" A lot behind this (or imbedded in it). Chase it vigorously, it will reward you. There are many pieces that allude to historical situations and artistic postures, such as 'Situations in Coromandel'. You will have to spend your own thought on dealing with this. Life and death haunts Jack Ross. Chantal moves amongst history, timeless. Such as the great poet's vision should be in 'The Consolations of Chantal' ends (with a quote) "For the perpetual motion of time / imitates / the infinite state of eternal life". Closest to Chantal's essence is in 'Beloved' 5th and 6th lines "she's swallowed by my shadow / like a stone against the sky" The intertwining moods and essences of a relationship. 'Around the South Island at New Year' reveals some really perceptive and introspective visions. Oh Chantal is a heavenly creature. Read more to find out why. An excellent collection.
JAAM 18, New Young New Zealand writing. Edited by Anna Jackson. Published by Jaam Publishing Collective.
A good choice of work here, as always. Along with 'Glottis' and 'Takahe' one of the three New Zealand's liveliest literary magazines. Fine work here by many already known to us. Jenny Powell-Chambers, in her 'word pictures' are deep and satisfying and so very sincere. Mary Wilson's story, 'Between' is a bit of a mind wobble, the sort of thing you need to be reading when you are in the bath. It is all very 'driven' no plots in things these days, however. I daren't even mention stream of consciousness' so very 60's! Kai Jensen comes forth with some nostalgia. The idea of his suit growing grey sends me frantic to my dyer. Women love cats, so does Anne Kennedy here. She talks to them; helps fix them. Emily Dobson has moved into a sophisticated new dimension. Moving out of a personalised ghetto of simple introspection. She is moving into referenced stuff. The Concise Oxford Dictionary. Wonderful what you can make of a word. Nick Ascroft's work impresses. I can relate to this without getting brain cramps. Full of surprises, non-literary allusions. Much of it is little stories done up as poems. Alan Wearne, for instance,. He needs to address himself to a good structured plot.. Nice to see Jaam taking longer pieces / sequences. Jack Ross randoms from one thing to another and ends up with a whole lot of studious pieces with some awakening power. David Eggleton's work continues to impress. So well crafted, brief, incisive. The reviews section is Jaam's strength.
TAKAHE 47. December 2002. Edited by James Norcliffe and Victoria Broome. 60pp A4.
It is with some surprise when you realise that Takahe has reached issue No.47. Not a bad record at all and soon it will reach the half century mark. The results of the Takahe Poetry Competition are in this issue. When you read the winner, Emily Dobson's sustained piece, 'A Box of Bees' you start to realise the extent of New Zealand poetry has developed and improved over the years. For instance, "
.they will become / Queens, but for now / they are only the size / of commas". The whole sequence is just so absorbing and of course, so brilliant. Tim Upperton's second place is only 8 lines, but just as gripping. A poem about a caterpillar? Yes is can be done. Martin Sutton, in his expertise in language, in his double runners-up position, leaves us laughing, gasping a wise head here, such studied observation. Then there is the rest of the magazine, the high quality work that has been Takahe's hallmark over the years. Jenny Powell-Chambers, the photographs by Maurice Lye (very homely and expressive). The reviews section maybe needs strengthening. Virgil Suarez' story 'Armidillos' is a 'tour de force' he is an American. Those people who treat short fiction with respect. Beginning, middle, end, plot. When will New Zealand storywriters learn this, and that the sheer brilliance of their expressive personality is not enough to carry them through? It is good that Takahe will publish overseas writers and it is also good that Creative New Zealand hasn't decided to pull the plug because of this.
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