Michael Harlow: The Tram Conductor’s Blue Cap (2009)

Jack Ross, ed.: Poetry NZ 38 (March 2009)

Michael Harlow. The Tram Conductor’s Blue Cap. ISBN 978-1-86940-430-7. Auckland: AUP, 2009.

Michael Harlow: The Tram Conductor’s Blue Cap (2009)

It seems amazing that this should only be Michael Harlow’s seventh (or is it eighth?) full book of poems. He seems ubiquitous, somehow – one of our most enduring and fascinating Elder Statesmen of Letters. But then, in what sense is he “ours”, exactly? One of the great strengths of his work has always been its extraordinary range: from Greek myth (“Cassandra’s daughter”), English poetic tradition (his wonderful elegy for John Clare, “Talking at the Boundary”) and more recently a strong Latin-American connection (via a series of international Poetry Festivals and bilingual publications). This book is as rich and deep as its predecessors.

(12/08)

Poetry NZ 38 (2009): 107-8.

[115 wds]

Poetry NZ 38 (2009)


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