The issue prints a selection of his poems, mainly from his latest book, Just Like That (2021).

I have enjoyed Kevin’s poetry for many years and it’s an honour to feature him and some of his long-standing friends in broadsheet.

Others included are: Peter Bland, Petrus Borel (trans.), Bernard Brown. Johanna Emeney, Riemke Ensing, Kevin Ireland, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, Brian Turner, Vincent O’Sullivan, Bill Manhire, Dorit Weisman (trans.), and C K Stead.

Link: http://broadsheetnz.wordpress.com

“The Ballad of the Triple Track collects together all of Michael O’Leary’s poems written since the publication of his Collected Poems 1981-2016. O’Leary’s poems continue to show linguistic departures. Sonnets, tributes and ballads to friends and family and musical influences are complemented by two longer poems. The first, The Ballad of the Triple Track, was written on the Paekākāriki Escarpment Walk, while the closing longer poem Yradeceba, is a long meditation finding O’Leary at his punning Joycean-best and draws on a wide-reading knowledge forming a 21st century prayer for the times we live in.”

Here is a comment from David’s Foreword: “Without contraries there is no progression, wrote William Blake. Michael O’Leary’s poems are by turns bold, irreverent, winsome. A middle-of-the night housefire, an Australian bushfire, a wedding, a pandemic, the imminent destruction of a vast collection of old library books, birthdays, his father in prison: the whole of life is here. Indeed, the whole shaky motu is here, rattling like a line of train carriages: those old red rattlers pulled by a steam locomotive, the furnace of which is stoked by Michael’s exuberant word-play. Into your hands I commend this book, for the good of you and yours.”

“In these thirty-five interviews with verse novelists from Australia and Aotearoa–New Zealand, Linda Weste explores the uniqueness of storytelling through poetry and the genre of the verse novel. Her subjects are notable representatives of a region where verse novels for Adults, Children and Young Adults thrive; among them is Steven Herrick, winner of the prestigious Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 2019; and what they have to say enriches our understanding of the verse novel across each of its publishing categories.”

Weblink: The Verse Novel: Australia & New Zealand – Australian Scholarly Publishing

Recommended to order online.

“More than a roof is about housing.

It’s about nostalgia, anger, contentment, longing, fear and much more. It brings together voices from across the spectrum – from those with no homes, those in emergency accommodation, in caravans, in cars, on boats, in rentals, or in their own houses.

Drawing together well-known writers and first-time poets, it’s a unique and timely collection.”

Weblink: https://www.landingpressnz.com/.

Recommended to check out at your local bookstore or order online.

I attended the launch at St Peter’s Church in Willis Street, Saturday 20 November 2021.

The issue prints a selection of her poems on birds and marine life. I have published Powell’s poetry for many years in journals and have known her since 1996 when I was editing/publishing JAAM magazine. Back then she was known by her former name of Jenny Powell-Chalmers.

Others included are: Nick Ascroft, Jeanne Bernhardt, Kay McKenzie Cooke, David Eggleton, Michael Harlow, Roger Hickin, Carolyn McCurdle, Martha Morseth, James Norcliffe, Peter Olds, Michael O’Leary, Mark Pirie, Richard Reeve and Annie Villiers.

Here's the link:
http://broadsheetnz.wordpress.com

The book contains new poems written on Furat's travels in Japan, South America and the Sudan.

The title is included in the ESAW Mini Series (being No. 43). Furat was also the first title in the ESAW Mini Series back in 2005.

It is an honour to be able to collect more of Furat's poetry in translation for readers in English. Furat is a highly regarded and award winning writer in the modern Arab world of travel writing and literature.

It presents new poems on rock written since my previous music collection Electrimotive in 2018.

Artists included: Lauryn Hill, Leonard Cohen, Ryan Adams, songwriter Jimmy Webb, Van Halen, Jim Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Billy Joel, Ronnie Van Zant, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, David Bowie and more.

It also includes some B&W line drawings of Sammy Hagar, Leonard Cohen, Bono (cover), Bob Dylan, and Anthony Kiedis previously featured in my artbook Folk Punk.

This will be my final mini book in the ESAW Mini Series (being No. 42) which ESAW publisher Michael O'Leary intends to end at No. 50.

The book contains 145 pages of my poetry on cricket written from 1994-2021. It captures many moments in cricket history including the ICC World Test Championship Final in England as well as the more social aspects of the game and imaginary fictions like Outer Space Cricket.

Slips includes a nice foreword written by The Cricket Society’s News Bulletin editor John Symons, also a MCC Cricket Book of the Year Judge. John writes that: “Our summer game is fortunate to have found such a good and talented friend and chronicler in Mark Pirie.”

For more details on the book, please visit the HeadworX website:

Slips: Cricket Poems by Mark Pirie

https://headworx.co.nz/poetry/slips