From Manoa to a Ponsonby Garden

This new collection by Albert Wendt moves from the warm valley winds of Hawai‘i to the seasons of a garden in Auckland, New Zealand. From Mānoa to a Ponsonby Garden is a collection of poignant, extraordinary poems – alert and self-confident, challenging of literary conventions, rough-hewn yet imbued with compelling vitalism – by one of our most celebrated writers. Writing, family and the passing of time are constant preoccupations.

Opening in Hawai‘i, Wendt watches the changing shadows of the mountains from his verandah; considers the nature of mauli, the seat of life; walks protected in his wife’s perfumed slipstream to work; and writes to Hone Tuwhare. In the second half, his Ponsonby garden provides the setting and vivid detail for 38 ‘garden’ poems, interspersed with inky, drawn works. If hips need replacing, poets grow older, tsunami destroy and friends slip away, still a spirit of renewal pervades this collection.