New Zealand poems among top contenders in upcoming poetry book.
‘Rain’, by Hone Tuwhare, and Rudyard Kipling’s ‘If’ are battling it out for the top spot in Our Favourite Poems: New
Zealanders choose their best-loved poems.
Our Favourite Poems asks the New Zealand public, ‘Which piece of verse moves you the most?’ Canvassing the country, New
Zealanders are voting for their favourite poem, with the top 100 or so poems being published as a collection in
November.
Third place is currently an interesting tussle, with equal votes between ‘Funeral Blues’ [Stop all the clocks…] (WH
Auden), ‘High Country Weather’ (James K Baxter), Daffodils [I wandered lonely as a cloud…] (Wordsworth), and ‘Magpies’
(Denis Glover).
“We’re thrilled with the results so far,” says Associate Publisher, Phillippa Duffy. “Through the voting, the public
have a hand in the book’s creation and feel a sense of ownership toward it. Particularly wonderful is the number of New
Zealand poems that are making it through, which goes to show New Zealanders’ pride in our own poetry tradition and,
quite possibly, that they’re getting a good airing at school. We’re also getting votes for children’s poems with
‘Jabberwocky’, ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ and a mixture of works by AA Milne voted for by both the young, and the
young-at-heart!”
Promoted through Sunday Star Times, bookstores, schools, and local libraries the results so far suggests Our Favourite
Poems will contain accessible works that reflect the country’s poetic palate, rather than the tastes often contained in
high-brow, literary anthologies.
“Our Favourite Poems gives the opportunity for booksellers to interact with their customers, libraries to engage their
members, and for schools to get students thinking about poetry as an enjoyable form of writing and reading. The book
will provide a never-before seen insight into the country’s poetic pulse.” Given the popularity, voting has been
extended to July 31, 2007.
So, What’s your favourite poem?
ENDS