Paula Green has reviewed Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2022 for NZ Poetry Shelf. She writes:
‘Tracey Slaughter’s introduction sidesteps the traditional literary journal’s editorial ‘opening’ and riffs on the theme of breakage. I adore it! The end of a line provides infinite fascinations: either as a rest stop or an open valve, but Tracey draws us to the way the line itself may be punctured with white space. It is not just the visual hit, prolonged breath or a shift in rhythm, it’s ‘Switch your senses on’. Tracey’s editorial is an invigorating piece on reading and writing poetry. It’s a rush to the senses, and inspired me to to create my second Paragraph Room (coming up soon!).
As an electrified proposition on reading poetry, it also applies to our entry into Poetry New Zealand 2022:
“Bring it all. Waste nothing. Use everything you are to open the poems in this book.”’
Read the full review, with extracts of selected poems, here.
