Poetry

Jackie Kay's new collection is a lyric counterpart to her memoir, "Red Dust Road", the extraordinary story of the search for her Nigerian and Highland birth-parents; but it is also a moving book in its own right, and a deep enquiry into all forms of human friendship. "Fiere" - Scots for 'companion, friend, equal' - is a vivid description of the many paths our lives take, and of how those journeys are made meaningful by our companions on the road: lovers, friends, parents, children, mentors - as well as all the remarkable and chance... read more

The idea for this book grew out of Wendy Cope's experience of meeting her audience, when reading her poems in schools. This is an edition of the poems which identifies the references, verse-forms, contexts and occasions of her work, and which offers readers a new arrangement of the poetry as a whole. The notes also identify dates of composition, so that it is possible to observe the development of her work. As well as drawing on Wendy Cope's three published books, the selection also includes a significant number of poems collected ... read more

The first major collection of Australian women's poetry in over a decade. More than 120 poets share their telling of a very contemporary story of identity - how we see ourselves as, and in relation to mothers, grandmothers and children. Judith Wright, Gwen Harwood, Dorothy Hewett, and Oodgeroo Noonuccal appear alongside the major poets of today, including Judith Beveridge, Jan Owen MTC Cronin, JS Harry, joanne burns and Tracy Ryan. Indigenous poets and fresh new voices give Motherlode an edge and intelligence that will by turn s... read more

The Nature of Things is a celebration of the relationship between poetry and the New Zealand landscape. It matches a wide range of poems that in some way evoke or describe our landscape with images from the pre-eminent New Zealand photographer Craig Potton. The poems have been selected and the introduction written by James Brown, one of New Zealand's leading contemporary poets. The Nature of Things includes work from many of the central figures of New Zealand poetry, both historical and contemporary, to create a hugely appealing, a... read more

Witty, thought-provoking poems from the woman who was tipped to become Britain's first female poet laureate. Duffy offers us the world as seen by the wives of celebrated men.

Fiona Samuel's theatre adaptation of The World's Wife has introduced Duffy's wonderful work to a whole new readership!

First published 1999.

Leonard Cohen's first book of new poetry since "Book of Mercy" was published two decades ago. It collects Cohen's poetry written between the 1980s and the present, and also includes his wonderfully witty and sensuous illustrations, including numerous playful self-portraits. The illustrations interact with, and complement, the poetry in unexpected and fascinating ways. "Book of Longing" demonstrates the range and depth of Cohen's work, revealing an extraordinary gift of language and visual art that speak with rare clarity, passion a... read more

When you cut x-rays They utter a peculiar cry But starfish split silently Make more of themselves To fill up empty spaces Something the lonely could do This collection of poetry explores the separation of and connections between people, places, and cultures. There are transformations from bark to cloth and plants to dyes, from limited views to wider understandings, and from being lonely to loved. The poems fill the senses with vivid colours, intense and languid heat, sinuous and silky textures, heady tropical scents ... read more

"A person kneels to contemplate a tree and to reflect upon the troubles and joys of life. The person imagines mornings and evenings in a great forest of prayers, swarming and teeming with life. The person is learning how to pray." Michael Leunig. First published 1990.

The follow-up to Anna Livesey's acclaimed 2003 debut collection Good Luck, The Moonmen contains poems that capture the eerie and exhilarating edges of daily life, poems which draw on her experience of the American Midwest, and poems responding to her mother's illness. These poems combine a crisp and shapely style with breathtaking openness and urgency in addressing personal material. First published May 2010.

A resonant, powerful collection from one of America's preeminent poets. In "Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea," Nikki Giovanni turns her pen to nature and the environment, the might and grace of women, her battle with cancer, the relationships between mothers and daughters, the state of the nation, and more.

Come sit down beside me I said to myself,
And although it doesn't makes sense,
I held my own hand as a small sign of trust,
And together I sat on the fence.

In Names, Marilyn Hacker juxtaposes glimpses of contemporary lives with dialogues undertaken in signal poetic voices. Using her signature wit, passion and mastery of received and invented forms, she convinces us to believe in a world made possible by language prescient, playful, polyglot and often breathtaking.

Jo Shapcott's award-winning first three collections, gathered in "Her Book: Poems 1988-1998", revealed her to be a writer of ingenuous, politically acute and provocative poetry, and rightly earned her a reputation as one of the most original and daring voices of her generation. In "Of Mutability", Shapcott is found writing at her most memorable and bold. In a series of poems that explore the nature of change - in the body and the natural world, and in the shifting relationships between people - these poems look freshly but squarely... read more

When "Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis" was first published, it catapulted its author into the bestseller lists and established her as one of our funniest and most eloquent poets. There are so many kinds of awful men - One can't avoid them all. She often said She'd never make the same mistake again: She always made a new mistake instead. (from 'Rondeau Redouble').

Presents the poems that explore the nature of change - in the body and the natural world, and in the shifting relationships between people.

Contains 120 of Pam Ayres' poems, including "The Battery Hen", "Please Will You Take Your Children Home Before I Do Them In?", "Sling Another Chair Leg on the Fire, Mother" and "Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth". This title includes a general introduction by Pam, as well as individual introductions to these classic poems.

Cow leaps and flies into imaginative realms carrying mythology and language. Cow creates the universe, the galaxies and travels through the sky as a herd of stars. Cow writes love poetry and ponders lost histories. Susan Hawthorne's new collection of poems will surprise and delight and make you see the world anew. An intriguing approach to the rewriting of myth, this book takes the reader on a journey through the history of languages and symbolic traditions. Through a main character, Queenie, a cow of many abilities and a history t... read more

Born in New Zealand, resident in Australia, with literary achievements in both countries, Jennifer Compton is a truly trans-Tasman writer. Two recent residencies in New Zealand, at the Randell Cottage in 2008 and as Visiting Literary Artist at Massey University in 2010, have enabled her to spend time in her home city of Wellington, find out new things about her homeland, examine her roots and reflect on life. Two previous residencies in Italy, at the Whiting Library Studio in Rome 2006 and the Ligurian Study Centre, Bogliasco 2007,... read more

This ground-breaking anthology presents in chronological order over 400 poems written in the twentieth century. The authors, both published poets themselves, give an overview of each period of history, while notes to the poems place each one in its historical context and trace the century's poetic development. Concise biographies for each poet complete the anthology. By organizing the poems in chronological order, readers will see poets in a new light. Here A.E. Houseman, for example, rubs shoulders with T.S. Eliot, showing that tr... read more

The new collection from the Poet Laureate