No Other Place to Stand: An Anthology of Climate Change Poetry from Aotearoa New Zealand

by Essa Ranapiri (Editor), Rebecca Hawkes (Editor), Jordan Hamel (Editor)

Ninety-one writers with connections to these islands grapple with the biggest issue facing people and the planet.

Genres: Poetry

220 pages, Paperback

Published December 8, 2022

Reviews

[Anuja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Technically an author review BUT having now read this cover to cover — it's Really good and makes me want to be far less passive when it comes to the rapid ruining of our planet!

[Ellen Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much heartbreak, rage, aroha, and mana contained in these poems. This book is a compelling perspective from the Pasifika that desperately needs sharing far and wide.

There are way too many great ones to list here, but “Anecdotal happiness”, “The world is at least fifty percent terrible”, “Hinemoana”, “Utopia”, “Dear Banaba”, and “There isn't a right way to feel when your country catches fire” are all stand outs to me.

[Nelson Wattie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing of war poetry, Wilfred Owen famously said, “the Poetry is in the pity.” He was claiming that his poems were important for their subject matter more than for their form. And yet the reader might not feel the pity in the poem or for the combatants if Owen’s lines were not so intensely yet delicately musical and technically brilliant, for example, in their use of half-rhymes. Sadly, pity is not enough for poetry, which also calls for the linguistic skill of the poet to make it truly felt.
Consequently, it is risky to base an anthology on subject matter. “Write a poem about the dread and horror we feel at the possibility of sheer catastrophe due to climate change.” Even though the possibility is rapidly becoming a probability, the emphasis in that editor's invitation needs to be on the word “poem”. It is a relief to see that many of the items in this anthology are, indeed, effective poems. They move us to tremble at the future precisely because of their poetic achievement. Other contributors clearly felt the dread and horror but did not convey it effectively enough to meet poetry’s requirements. Among the successful poems, the stand-out one for me is Emma Neale’s “Wanting to believe in the butterfly effect.” Certainly, this poem urgently appeals to our emotions and compassion, in particular to our parental instincts, but does so by placing each word carefully - especially those of the children themselves, threatened as they are by a future we must feel as our collective responsibility. Yes, the pity (compassion) draws us into the poem’s heart, but only because it is rich in linguistic power.

[Francis Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

a very good book about a very bad thing. longer thoughts: https://landfallreview.com/just-the-d...