Poetry New Zealand, this country's longest-running poetry magazine, showcases new writing from New Zealand and overseas. This issue, #55, features 182 poems by 129 poets, including Elizabeth Morton, Michele Leggott, essa may ranapiri, Bob Orr, Kiri Piahana-Wong, Jordan Hamel, David Eggleton and Mere Taito, the winning entries in the Poetry New Zealand Prize, essays, and reviews of 25 new poetry books. Compiled in a time of pandemic, these are poems written -- in the words of editor Tracey Slaughter -- when 'the only line to follow was deeper in, darker down, to poetry. The page was the only safe place our breath could go.'

Each year Poetry New Zealand, this country's longest-running poetry magazine, rounds up new poetry, reviews, and essays, making it the ideal way to catch up with the latest poetry from both established and emerging New Zealand poets. Issue #54 features 133 new poems (including by this year's featured poet, rising star essa may ranapiri, and C.K. Stead, Elizabeth Smither, Kevin Ireland, Chris Tse, Gregory Kan, Fardowsa Mohamed, and Tracey Slaughter); essays (including a graphic essay by Sarah Laing); and reviews of new poetry collections. Poems by the winners of both the Poetry New Zealand Award and the Poetry New Zealand Schools Award are among the line-up.

"Poetry New Zealand, this country's longest-running poetry magazine, showcases new writing from New Zealand and overseas. It presents the work of talented newcomers as well as that of established leaders in the field. This issue features the winning entries in the Poetry New Zealand Poetry Prize and the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook student poetry competition, as well as 126 poems by 101 poets, including Michele Leggott, Emma Neale, Bob Orr, Vaughan Rapatahana, Elizabeth Smither, and many others. Issue #53 also features essays by Elizabeth Kirkby-McLeod, Jessica Pawley and Erena Shingade, as well as reviews of 22 new poetry books"--Back cover

A moving account in poetry of one woman's pathway through violence and addiction. "at six, my mother's boyfriend forced his fat hairy hand inside my heart-shaped face for eating too many Fruit Bursts we bought a tube of them at BP wrapped individually in pastel wax papers which littered the backseat like sweet-smelling confetti his hand tasted of salt a metallic tang of rust the hot edge of petrol from the pump still lingering on his fingers" My Honest Poem is a moving and powerful poetry collection that follows recovery from a life fractured by family violence and addiction. It is a coming-of-age story of a young New Zealand woman rebuilding strength and hope in the spaces left by trauma.