A brief but very good mention of the book I edited, King
Willow: Selected Poems by Robert J Pope, appeared in the
latest issue of the Cricket Society's Journal:
JOHN SYMONS
Review of King Willow: Selected Poems by Robert J Pope
edited by Mark Pirie
HeadworX Publishing web: http://headworx.eyesis.co.nz
Mark Pirie is continuing to explore New Zealand literary history
both old and new and here we have a selection of poems from a
writer, Robert J Pope whose life (1865-1949) covered the birth of
New Zealand cricket through to Walter Hadlee's determination on the
post-war tour of England to be worthy of full-length Test
Matches.
Although, well-regarded in his lifetime as with many poets, he
became unfashionable although there now seems to be a reappraisal
of his work. The selection from his work set out here contains only
a single cricketing poem but his other work is well worth modern
consideration. There is a wistful and elegiac tone to his war
poetry - no drums and bugles and hurrahs - more sadness at lives
lost and friends no longer to be greeted.
The only cricket poem "King Willow" was written to welcome in
the 1932 season but there is a small section of cricket prose at
the end of the book. I also liked his affectionate parody of W B
Yeats in Billy's Tea which made me smile.
Not really enough perhaps to convince the cricket collector to
add this to his library but Mark Pirie is ploughing a singular
furrow as he explores the byways of New Zealand literature and
deserves the praise that he is garnering. A writer and a publisher
who are always worth seeking out.
(From The Journal of the Cricket Society, UK, Volume
26, No. 4, Spring 2013, p. 69-70).
