Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, Paekakariki, Wellington, New Zealand. Poetry series - booklets 24pp each.
I have seven of the eight so far published in this series. Basim Furat, formerly of Iraq; good poetry, the shorter ones are best. Mark Pirie is at Number Two; poems interspersed with the pop culture - slightly visceral - good to get these down before they disappear into a puff of smoke. No.3. is Robin Fry - domestic but with universal overtones. The vulnerability of the human condition. From England, Ralph Proops (No.4.) has a first book of poems here. He gave it all away at one stage but came back. Good. At No.5. Tony Beyer is an old hand and his assertiveness is brilliant and his humility, profound: “a single grain of / of dust / topples….” Jeanne Bernhardt (at 7) is internal, but perceptive. Are we all like that? Peter Olds (8) is well known - a haunted poet of many collections and anthologised. So permanently youthful and enthusiastic!

Self Titled. Poems by Tony Chad. HeadworX, Wellington. NZ. $24.95
This is a book I could really get in to. Tony Chad is very much of the pop culture. A poetic entrepreneur, he edits 'Valley Micropress' which has helped so many poets over the years. This collection is a bit uneven but I liked 'Snake, the line' and the totally overdone but credible 'Feast'. Prose poem, 'A Coming of Age' is pungent and real. Much of this poetry cries out to be guitared or sung. Nothing wrong with that.

Overnight Downpour. Poems by Andrew Fagan, HeadworX. $19.99.
Singer, songwriter Fagan is a man of many talents. Witty and forthcoming, sometimes unremorsefully flippant, like 'Looking Forward to It'. The visceral and flippant are his trademarks. Fagan never quite reveals himself; a wonderfully defensive poetic mechanism! Some of this is distancing from quite a distance. Anyway a good read when you can get round the corners to get a good look at it.

Gate Crasher. Stories by Francis Cherry. ESAW, Paekakariki, NZ.
Hard to get good stories that are published, that are readable. Beginning, middle and end; with a punch, is the formula. So many writers have very little sense of structure, but Cherry has it. Although 'A Cup of Tea' wanders a bit it begins with a bang and ends with one. Nicely crafted, but a trendy conclusion, this one.

Dreamers. A novelette, by Brian E. Turner. ESAW, $25.00
A nice plot by this, by now, experienced writer of good tales. A little between the world of reality and the world of dreams and reality. Although quite corny in parts (needed a good editor?): “they made love in the aromatic night”, etc, there is still enough credibility to make it interesting. Part Three is best and one is grateful it, and the rest, saw the light of day. Good summer reading.

A Whistling Woman, a Crowing Hen. Poems by Pat Bellamey. ESAW $20.00.
This is Pat Bellamey's second book of poems. I find most of these a bit pedestrian, but some, like 'W.E.Dervan' are quirky and interesting. Many, like 'Companion' are private poems that one can only guess the meaning of.

Duck Weather.Poems by Barbara Strang. Poet's Group, Lyttleton, NZ. $19.95.
Barbara Strang has a wonderful eye for detail, the relevance of which, in the context of some of these poems is a bit mystifying. A lot of it has a 'writing school' feel to it prompting one to think that anything observed at all, is very important. I distinguish, though, between little gems like this: “river flats - / a pale yellow flood / of lupins” (lovely), and “from the landfill / the sea / very blue” which is a bit pedestrian. The poet's ultimate nightmare, 'The Blank Page' is on p.40. However, Barbara manages to fill the page with a credible, if rather forced, poem. 'The Wairau Fault' is quirky towards the end but like many of these poems, works quite well. You could do worse with your time than sit there for an hour or two, absorbed in these poems.

The Word Went Around. Poems by David Howard. Otago University Press, $29.95.
David Howard is a prolific poet these days. These are a rewarding series of poems. The title poem concerns an historic event, the arrival of the emigrant ship, Asia that came to Port Chalmers in 1874. What I really enjoyed is the series of paintings by Garry Currin. Nearly abstract, but moody and bold. A great imagination. The pair here are a good buy. After the title poem, we have on p.28, 'A Brief History of Colonialism'. This looks daunting but if you persist with it, it forms patterns that you can understand. Nobody has written it quite like this! 'Letter to Charles Brasch' is delicately and sensitively done; I knew Charles well before he died, in 1972. This is a winner.There's a confident boldness in these poems that I am sure you will appreciate. Long may the books flow from David Howard…

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