The Anatomy of Sand
by Mikaela Nyman (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $25)
Many people have written poetry about the environment and climate change, but few have shown a real knowledge of how nature works. Mikaela Nyman is one. Born and raised in Finland, now living in Taranaki, Nyman has written two collections of poetry in the Swedish language. This is her first collection in English and it is brilliant in its variety. In Lonely sailors, she not only proves how human beings can be related to the man o’ war of the ocean, but also introduces us to the beach itself.
In another poem she digs deep into the crust of the Earth, and sometimes uses specialist words to explain all the different things that are right under our feet. Her Dunes of methane builds on a theory that there is a variety of water on Pluto. Not that she is writing in only a solemn vein. Spinifex and Velella is a delightful example of anthropomorphism. And then there is her ironic take on How to safely dispose of milk and Of wombs and eggs (a creation story) based on the Finnish saga Kalevala, and bringing in the poet’s distant forebears. Accomplished variety and a very original take on our planet.
The Midnight Plane - Selected and New Poems
by Fiona Kidman (Otago University Press, $40)
Dame Fiona Kidman is probably best known for her many novels. But when it comes to poetry, she is “a plain poet”, she says. She does not attempt to bedazzle readers with recherché words. Of the 140 poems that make up this book, most are an anthology of her six earlier collections. Only 20 are “new poems”. She says clearly what she means – a touch of feminism, awareness of the toil of women in earlier times as well as thoughts on the countryside, family, memories of younger years and some interest in climate and political matters. It reads very smoothly, with sly wit (especially in Pink washbasin), and touches on a sort of romanticism in the title poem. There are a very few poems you might call political, namely My husband’s war stories, about the 1981 Springbok Tour, and Sitting bird, connecting children dying in Gaza to a helpless bird she sees in a tree. Very accessible and the type of poetry that should attract a large audience.
The Companion to Volcanology
by Brent Kininmont (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $25)
New Zealand-born but now resident in Japan, Brent Kininmont has travelled widely and refers often to countries he’s visited. There are examples here of his interest in history, as in Limbs Succumbing about those lost from the Venus de Milo in Greece, or The Impressionist, where, looking at the Pont du Gard, he considers other bridges of the Roman era and wonders what technology they used to hold them together.
But more often he looks at how people develop and grow. The title poem is almost iconic (in the traditional sense of the word) as he depicts a woman carrying a child on her back as they head towards a mountain. The metaphor is clear. In a sequence he deals with the way children are treated. But the most gripping (and straightforward) poem is New Year Ekiden, referring to a marathon held in Japan, which deals with one athlete where “I see in the pained looks that his/lungs are no longer bellows”. Not presented as cheap optimism, the poem suggests the limits of physical endeavour.
High Wire
by Michael Fitzsimons ( The Cuba Press, $25)
In 2020 Michael Fitzsimons was diagnosed with cancer. He wrote a collection about it called Michael, I Thought You Were Dead. He thought his time was coming. But, “Five years after treatment for metastatic cancer / the doctors don’t want to see me any more. / They talk of a cure, as you might to a Lourdes pilgrim.” So he’s on the “high wire”, poised between life and death and making the best of the life that is left for him.
He is a remarkably cheerful. A long opening sequence called All This has him remembering times of happy wine-drinking and enjoying the local birds’ dawn chorus. But he also weighs up what he has achieved, saying, “My poems seem to appeal / to people who don’t read poetry. / Am I breaking down barriers? / Am I building bridges? / Am I enlarging the world? / Am I cheating? / Am I a poet?” These are matters many poets must ponder. There follow 44 poems under the heading And More in a style that is ironic, happy and enjoyable.
Mad Diva
by Cadence Chung (Otago University Press, $30)
A classical singer and composer well acquainted with opera, Cadence Chung has her own take on the arts – sometimes questioning, sometimes revering, sometimes taking the fine arts down a peg, especially when she deals with fictitious operatic characters such as Carmen and Musetta. But underneath this is always a sense of respect for the music she loves. This takes up the first half of the collection. As for love itself, the second half deals with it in all its forms, with perhaps some poems built on the experience of the poet herself. Quite exhilarating.
AUP New Poets 11
(Auckland University Press, $29.99)
AUP’s “new poets” collections always come in threes. This time, the three young poets are New Zealanders but with origins in different ethnicities. Xiaole Zhan’s long prose poem Arcadia refers to growing up in a Chinese-Pākehā family and recalling Chinese mores. Under the heading Intertidal, Margo Montes de Oca, who has Mexican roots, uses a variety of poetic techniques (free verse, shape verse, traditional stanzas) to speak of sometimes romantic and sometimes sad things. JA Vili is of Samoan descent. His Poems Lost During the Void mourns for his wife but also encourages young people.
