Vaughan Rapatahana
Night Swimming, by Kiri Piahana-Wong (Anahera Press, 2013), 50 pp., $24.99.
Ko he pukapuka o ngā whiti tuatahi tēnei nā he kaituhi ki te ingoa o Kiri Piahana-Wong. Ka nui te pai hoki kia titiro me kia rāhiri tēnei pukapuka.
[This is the first book of poems by a writer named Kiri Piahana-Wong. It’s excellent to have the opportunity to look at and appreciate this book.]
Thank you for publishing this, your first collection of poems, Kiri. I was pleasantly surprised. I think that there is certainly enough quality poetry inside the slim volume to warrant the collection too, given the inevitable first collection dilemma of whether or not a poem is quite ‘good enough’ to warrant inclusion. Some poems do struggle a bit to establish themselves either above or beneath the waves here, but there is so much more demonstrably power-swimming going on elsewhere that the book positively waves to you to dive in and wallow. And to publish via your own publishing house (Anahera Press), pushing out into the tide with some moolah from Creative New Zealand flung into the currents, is also an achievement I applaud.