The Best of Best New Zealand Poems
by Bill Manhire

Read: Mar 23-28, 2022
Genre: Poetry

I listen to some podcasts from RNZ, and this one appeared in my feed a couple of weeks ago. It was on reading rates in New Zealand, and had some interesting stats about how much the different genders read different genres. What stuck in my mind was the idea of reading poetry. It wasn’t really something I had considered!

I searched around for a book of New Zealand poetry that I could get online from the library and found this one. I was interested in the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2021 but the library didn’t seem to have it.

I enjoyed the read, although I’m fairly certain I missed the point of many (most) of the poems. Some were flowy, like poetry of high school, but others were stilted and I couldn’t grasp the story. I did find some of the longer ones interesting, though, where it seems more like a short story told in verse.

I particularly liked:

• X-Ray by Peter Bland
• Fitter Turner by Jenny Bornholdt
• University Open Day by James Brown
• Tidal by Alistair te Ariki Campbell
• Making Waves by Chris Orsman

Perhaps next time I’ll understand more! 🧐