“No victim should have to sit in a courtroom and hear that individual who robbed them of their dignity deserves a discount at sentencing.” If that’s true, why wait until National is back in power to pass this? It’s pretty foul imo that this is a re-election ploy and not a given to pass - now. #nzpol

friday afternoon. in my favourite corner.

And a hearty che-hoo to Nafanua Purcell Kersel for this wonderful collection that won the Biggs Family Prize for Poetry at the IIML in manuscript form in 2022

I have been wondering whether, if we're going to keep doing book awards, perhaps it could be a pot-luck at a community hall, and get away from all this sponsorship malarkey.

the em dash thinks now is a good time to share this again @mcsweeneys.net

this is so very lovely. thank you, @flewoutof.bsky.social. ❤️

nzpoetryshelf.com/2026/05/08/p... Special indeed @helenrickerby.bsky.social

“Because before I was a peer support worker, I was a patient.” amymarguerite.substack.com/p/on-lived-e...

Amber Esau: "language fuckery is one of the many ways we might shift the collective psyche towards learning how to sit with uncertainty and make space for each other."

Amanda Nadelberg

—What if all the truth is is an over-washed sweatshirt, sometimes on purpose worn inside out? —Carl Phillips, from "Career"

@flewoutof.bsky.social #theockhams

violin cat!

Just had the best experience out door knocking, partly in the rain. About 20 volunteers out, and nearly everyone I spoke to a Green supporter or voter. All but one signed our housing petition.

Green Party issues 'human catastrophe' warning in 'State of the Planet' address

"Outside of clinical care, people need peer support. When you’re in the middle of an eating disorder, it can feel impossible to imagine a way out. Seeing someone who has been there and recovered shows that there is." www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/eating-di...

"I wish to see action on the climate crisis" "Not that" "Not that" "Not that" "Not that" "Not that" "Not that" "Not that" "Not that"

Helen Rickerby's 'My Bourgeois Apocalypse' is full of intelligent passion and beautiful wisdom. Traces of Anne Carson, Lyn Hejinian, and so many marks of glorious engagement with life and its texts. One of my 2026 reading highlights, already, confidently so.

Maeve, reading nzpoetryshelf.com/2020/01/30/p...

Out now ✨ two powerful collections on chronic illness, thinking patterns, family dysfunction, and the relationships between them by acclaimed author Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle. Find a special offer on ‘companion books’ Leaves Fall Off to Create Drama and Autobiography of a Marguerite: bit.ly/4lMmcfE

my diaries are so safe with ignatius!

"Barriers are sometimes conceptualised not as problems to be solved, but as tests of how committed applicants are to their art. And there’s always the fear that disclosure will count against you."

some lovely news: on monday i had the most validating doctor's appointment i've had in years, maybe ever? i've finally been referred to the pain clinic and received provisional diagnoses. it's so easy to take someone seriously? let's see so much more of that?

At 2pm this Sunday afternoon I'm part of a free reading with some other fine poets at Katherine Mansfield House and Garden - in the garden if the weather holds. More info here: www.katherinemansfield.com/event/poetry...

to quote this piece, "I was like whoa"

Dancing against the apocalypse: Helen Rickerby launches her book tonight at the Southern Cross (7pm), and yes, there will be a dance party!

this is so cool.

"Workers turned up and did their jobs, caring for patients, keeping hospitals running, and they deserved to be paid on time," PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said. "A payroll failure of this scale is not a minor inconvenience, it causes real hardship." www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Sometimes a prompt is useful if only because it gives you an instruction you can disobey, but disobey specifically

!!! ❤️

Come and dance to Helen's poetry!

Toitū te tiriti! A list of books on te tiriti from Volume books: volume.nz/volumebooks/...

"I want Poetry Shelf to offer both balm and protest banners in these calamitous times." ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

saturday is for reading and reminiscing! do come along to bad apple's last harvest, it will be so lovely and special. "All are welcome along for this one-night-only, party/funeral for the juiciest queer art and lit journal." tickets here (choose what you pay!) basementtheatre.co.nz/blogs/whats-...

Huge congratulations to Anna Jackson, whose book "Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts" has been long-listed for the Okhams! www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-...

yes, same. i love this so very much.

"...and I'll let you down bloody, poets: There is no such thing as endless distances. God can't even see which tattoos we bought..." !!! from Chloe Bryan https://www.havehashad.com/e924v

University of Waikato in Hamilton, NZ, are hiring in English and Writing Studies - pass it on! www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...

just sitting here in my house thinking about how much i love my job and team and what the heck

"in times of crisis we must decide over and over again whom we love" (says Frank O'Hara)

for Renee Nicole Good, a poet and a mother

poets.org/2020-on-lear... a page where the poem will display properly and also not have scum commenting at the bottom

Last call for 2026 tutoring applications! Please apply by Sunday 11 January if you want to be considered www.wgtn.ac.nz/sam/about/tu...

some thoughts and happenings

This describes my exact feelings. Jameela Jamil is a treasure.

Nice to see Anna Jackson here elisagabbert.medium.com/every-book-i...

an annual tradition to post this @heatherchristle.bsky.social poem

No child should be targeted for deportation just because they are disabled. actionnetwork.org/petitions/le...

car music. it is nice to feel everything in front of nothing.

On Thursday I wrote my Poetry Shelf 2025 highlight post but it was the worst day in the worst week in the worst year & I barely skimmed the surface of special. The width and depth and delight of poetry in Aotearoa is incredible. nzpoetryshelf.com/2025/12/18/p...