Outloud Too. Ed. Vaughan Rapatahana, Kate Rogers, Madeleine Slavick. ISBN 978-988-13114-0-5. Hong Kong: MCCM Creations, 2014.
This is a very nicely produced anthology of poems to do with all aspects of life in Hong Kong, from “local and overseas poets alike.” Four of the 48 writers included here have strong connections with New Zealand (including two of the editors: Vaughan Rapatahana and Madeleine Slavick), but I guess it’s this idea of fusion, of “a stable community of writers in a city constantly reinventing itself” that’s of particular interest right now, as the struggle for democracy intensifies in this former colonial enclave, now rejoined politically to China. It’s hard not to see hints of that in a lot of the poems included here, in fact: “the guy in the front row / leant forward & / thud / hit his head / with cupped hand / like he didn’t want that particular / idea to take root in there” [Alan Jefferies, “Reading,” p. 55].
(26-27/9/14)
Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 1 [Issue #49]. ISSN 0114-5770 (2014): 234.
[163 wds]
Poetry NZ Yearbook 1 (2014)
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