Poems 2016-2021
Alan Roddick
The book
… Between-times, there's silence to attend to,
setting an edge on hearing, for what happens –
dokadok-dok, freight wagons heading north;
then that diesel thrum, a fishing vessel,
and the first truck, changing down, clears its throat.
Soon, the city-stir will say Start here
as graylight brings Level 2. What happens now?
Today. Then today. And then, today.
– From 'At Last – Level 2'
Written in the eighth and ninth decades of his life, Alan Roddick's third collection of poetry, Next, examines the past, observes the present and speculates on the future.
Anchored in the action of daily life – whether it be a ride in a mirrored elevator or a roadside conversation with a friend – his poems speak of migration, family, friendship, aging and mortality.
Next is marked by a rare blend of uncompromising vision and deep compassion. Here is poetry that delights in warmth, humour, wit and grace, that revels in the beauty of the world, that insists on 'anticrepuscular rays' at twilight even as it's asking the niggling question:
'Tomorrow, though? …'
'My Last Poem' is the title of the fifth-to-last poem in Next, which beautifully indicates how Alan Roddick's work always has something more to give. He is a lyric poet who knows how to tell stories, and how to give full voice to the subtle pleasures of family, friendship and language. He has been publishing poetry for more than 50 years now, yet he goes on surprising. The poems here are tender, wry, occasionally heart-shuddering – and always attentive to the astonishments of human experience. – Bill Manhire
Roddick's most simple poems are also his most potent. – Elizabeth Morton, in NZ Poetry Yearbook, 2018
Reviews & Interviews
Interview: Alan Roddick on Standing Room Only with Lynn Freeman Listen
Interview: Alan Roddick on the OARsome Morning Show with Jeff Harford Listen
Review:“Migration, family, friendship, aging and mortality are considered among these 40-odd odd poems, but it is his language and emotion that will grab the reader. Roddick is strong and fascinating.” – Hamesh Wyatt reviews Next for the Otago Daily Times. Read the full review
Review: Nicholas Reid reviews Next for Reid's Reader and the NZ Listener Read
Review: “Alan Roddick's Next: Poems 2016–2021, for instance, presupposes poetry as something readily accessible, a verbal machine that preserves and presents experiences and feelings in such a way that any reader can imaginatively enter into them.” – Harry Ricketts reviews Next for Landfall Review Online. Read the full review
Author
Alan Roddick was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and emigrated to New Zealand in 1952. He is the literary executor for Charles Brasch and has edited numerous books including Charles Brasch: Selected Poems (OUP, 2015). Next is Roddick's third book of poetry: his first collection, The Eye Corrects, was published in 1967 and was followed 49 years later with Getting It Right (OUP, 2016).
Publication Details
Paperback, 230 x 150, 84pp
ISBN 9781990048319, $27.50
IN-STORE: FEB 2022