Siobhan Harvey
Prayers for the Living & the Dead by Lindsay Rabbitt (Voice Press, 2021), 64pp, $25; Still Life: Timeless poems by Helen Jacobs (TuiTwo Publishers, 2022), 76pp, $24; Stream Light by William Direen with colour illustrations by Scott Flanagan (South Indies Text and Music Publishing, 2023), 72pp, $22
‘Death,’ observed American author and journalist Norman Cousins, ‘isn’t the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.’ It’s a sentiment navigated expertly by three senior New Zealand poets as they contemplate their existence and the imminency of its extinguishment in their latest books. In this, it isn’t the universal relevancy of facing up to the world without us that lingers long after the last pages of these collections are closed, it’s the skilled authors’ ability to discover the joy and import of existence in the smallest moment and everyday engagement. [Read more…]