Misbehaviour & other reveries

In the first part of this book, Diversions, the poet appreciates artists and their works, welcomes autumn, reminisces in England, slips into a strange church, remembers friends — and more. The poems are often agreeably matter-of-fact, playful or lyrical. Others are less tame: there is an accountant needing therapy, an opera set in a landfill with the chorus dressed as bacteria, a patriarch with a pentagram, and much more.

In Yearnings, the second part, reveries prevail. A pauper poet meets literary royalty, there are visitations by blackbirds more symbolic than real, and conflicts from Vietnam and Ukraine to Parihaka. Will kaka take over the world; light relief is never too far away.

Generous notes explain unfamiliar references in the poems and confirm the broad, eclectic range of the poet’s imagination. This is the poetry of curiosity, inventiveness and wonderment.