Our Favourite Poems: New Zealanders choose their favourite poems. Introduction by Iain Sharp. (Craig Potton Publishing, 2007) RRP $24.99

Harvey Molloy

In 1995, the British television programme The Bookwork asked viewers to name their favourite poem and was inundated with thousands of replies. When the cloud of postcards and emails settled The Bookwork collated the results and an anthology of the top one hundred poems called The Nation’s Favourite Poems was published. Back in July 2007 Craig Potton Publishing decided to publish a similar anthology and asked the public through the Sunday Star-Times to name their favourite poem. The result is Our Favourite Poems.

I know some poets are tired of the current enthusiasm for anthologies. They worry that the single volume of work is falling out of favour with the reading public as the anthology gains ascendancy. Just look at the market: there are anthologies about death, pets, parenting, Auckland, Wellington, Antarctica and even a Science Fiction poetry anthology. But I like anthologies: they make good gifts, reach a new readership, and make lesser demands on the reader. An anthology, especially an anthology focused on a genre or theme, can allow the reader to see the numerous possibilities presented by a particular subject. Andrew Johnston’s excellent anthology Moonlight delivers great pleasure from thorough reading, as does Mark Pirie and Tim Jones’ recent Voyagers: Science Fiction poetry from New Zealand. 

What can be learnt from reading Our Favourite Poems carefully, as opposed to just dipping in? Iain Sharp’s introduction tries to tease out any lessons. New Zealanders when compared to their British counterparts like a number of North American writers: Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Frost, Harry Wadsworth Longfellow, Maya Angelou, Billy Collins, e.e. cummings and Emily Dickinson make our top 100 countdown. Twenty-five of the poems are by New Zealanders including great poems by James K. Baxter, Bill Manhire, Denis Glover, Margaret Mahy and Hone Tuwhare’s ‘Rain’, which comes in at number 1. There are five local entries in the top ten. Sharp rightly acknowledges that despite the dominance of open form, rhyme and rhythm are still vital components of many popular poems.

One lesson I took from the selection was the power of childhood exposure to poetry in forming our sensibilities—teachers still play a role in shaping the nation’s tastes. I like the nonsense and light verse in the anthology: Margaret Mahy, Spike Milligan, Roger McGough are all great fun and while I can almost appreciate the naive charm of Pam Ayres’ ‘Oh, I wished I’d looked after me teeth’ I wish that some of Tusiata Avia’s poems had kicked Pam out of the charts (if more teachers taught ‘My Dog’ then her place would be rightly secured). Some poets are conspicuously absent: I’m surprised that Sylvia Plath’s gothic sensibilities didn’t make it or that Wallace Stevens’ blackbirds and William Carlos Williams’ red wheelbarrow and chilled plums are nowhere to be found.

Have we had enough of anthologies?  I’ve been thinking about how great it would be to have an anthology of New Zealand Horror/Gothic poems, so obviously I haven’t had my fill. At present, the International Institute of Modern Letters publishes an online collection of Best New Zealand Poems—what about a ‘Reader’s Choice’ poetry award for New Zealand poems? Could a push for more local poetry perhaps encourage The Listener to go back to publishing a poem every week? We can only hope.

 

 

 

 

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