'A poem is a ripple of words on water wind-huffed'. Hone Tuwhare, one of this country's best-loved poets, died in 2008. He was New Zealand's second Te Mata Poet Laureate and in 2003 was among ten of New Zealand's greatest living artists named as Arts Foundation of NZ Icon Artists. His rhythmic voice ranged from playful, earthy, wry and cheeky to protesting and angry, to loving and elegiac. Delighting in the everyday, he had an acute eye for detail and a deep love of the land. He evoked Maori myth and waiata, but also embraced the wider world. And throughout, his poems circled around friendship, loss and love. Bringing together a wide variety of approaches - haikus, lyrics, laments, conversations, narratives, traditional form and modern, English and Maori - this volume showcases the finest examples of Hone's poetry, from his early triumph in No Ordinary Sun (one of the most widely read and reprinted collections of poems in New Zealand), through his years as a political activist, husband and father, right up to his final works, published when he was in his 80s. Also included are a handful of previously unpublished works as well as new translations into Maori of a number of poems written by Pat Hohepa, Waihoroi Shortland and Selwyn Muru.

About the Author

Born in 1922 in Kaikohe into the Ngapuhi tribe (hapu Ngati Korokoro, Ngati Tautahi, Te Popoto, Uri-o-hau), Hone Tuwhare was a boilermaker, political activist, husband and father, and poet. He won two Montana New Zealand book awards, was made Te Mata Poet Laureate in 1999, and held two honorary doctorates in literature. In 2003 he was among ten of New Zealand's greatest living artists named as Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Artists. Tuwhare died in 2008. Translators: Waihoroi Shortland of Ngati Hine and Te Aupouri descent is a former member of the Department of Maori Affairs, print and radio journalist, actor, film and television writer. Selwyn Muru of Ngati Kuri, Te Aupouri, Te Paatu, Ngati Rehia, Murikahara and Te Whakatohea is an artist, broadcaster, actor, writer, film maker. Pat Hohepa of the Mahurehure sub-tribe of Ngapuhi is an author, linguist, and academic. Formerly Professor of Maori Studies at the University of Auckland, he achieved his PhD in linguistics in the United States.