From Manoa to a Ponsonby Garden : Paperback

This new collection by Albert Wendt moves from the warm valley winds of Hawai`i to the seasons of a garden in Auckland, New Zealand. From Manoa to a Ponsonby Garden is a collection of poignant, extraordinary poems - alert and self-confident, challenging of literary conventions, rough-hewn yet imbued with compelling vitalism - by one of our most celebrated writers. Writing, family and the passing of time are constant preoccupations. Opening in Hawai`i, Wendt watches the changing shadows of the mountains from his verandah; considers the nature of mauli, the seat of life; walks protected in his wife's perfumed slipstream to work; and writes to Hone Tuwhare. In the second half, his Ponsonby garden provides the setting and vivid detail for 38 `garden' poems, interspersed with inky, drawn works. If hips need replacing, poets grow older, tsunami destroy and friends slip away, still a spirit of renewal pervades this collection.