Like Good Comedy, it would seem that the secret of running poetry workshops in Christchurch is ... timing. Yes indeedy, hot on the metaphorical heels of my adding the forthcoming Formal Poetry workshop to the sidebar list, comes the news that yet another venue has fallen to the ongoing trauma of the earthquakes. For those …
Turns, Endings, and The Point of High Windows
I'm currently devouring a new book, Structure & Surprise: Engaging Poetic Turns. My god, it’s good. It's based on an idea that I've just started exploring from a properly theoretical point of view, (although I’ve mentioned a variation in an earlier post) – deliberate, formal ways of opening a poem out beyond itself. So far …
Continue reading "Turns, Endings, and The Point of High Windows"
Awards! Awards!
I’ve been a bit slow getting around to this post, and the number of things to be posting about has hit critical mass. But first, a brief pause to pay homage to Father Ted: Almost a month late, but congratulations to John Adams, who has won the 2012 NZSA Best First Book Award for Poetry …
The Launch, the Chair, the Firewood
I meant to post this last week, but Friday ended up being insanely busy, and the weekend not a lot better. Last Thursday night was the launch of Dear Heart at Ed Hopper Cafe and Bar. In typical Christchurch poetry event fashion, the weather was utterly vile. Sleet, wind, driving rain, and temperatures that refused …
Saving the night
(Originally I was going to add the word “sky” to the title of this post, but I like the possibilities suggested without it.) In an interesting bit of co-incidence, it’s just been announced that 4300 square kilometres of the MacKenzie Basin has been declared a Dark Sky Reserve – the biggest in the world. How …
A Dark Feathered Art 