KAPITI — Collected Poems

Te Ao Hou, July 1973, Page 56

KAPITI — Collected Poems by Alistair Campbell Pegasus Press, $3.50 or $2.25 Reviewed by Jane Ihimaera A poet's own selection of his work is bound to be interesting for it is also his personal assessment of his poetic achievement — such is the case with Alistair Campbell's volume Kapiti, a selection of poems from earlier collections and literary magazines. With nearly a quarter of a century separating the first poem from the last, one can trace the development of Campbell's art. The earlier poems are lyrical, many very slight, with constant nature imagery, particularly driftwood and bones, but conveying an air of contentment and interest in the world around. Some of the poems have a more intense impact — the effect of the hard heat of The Cromwell Gorge comes across vividly, as does the hardness and harshness of nature in the seven poems which comprise Elegy for a friend killed mountaineering. Looking at Kapiti is the first poem where the island is mentioned. The ghosts of the island's past visit Campbell, to be developed more fully in the major poem — or series of poems — Sanctuary of Spirits. The Maori of old creep from the island and numbers of them speak—an old woman briefly; an old man in shame; a chief defeated; Nga Roimata, strangled by her father to avoid slavery, with grief; Tamihana Te Rauparaha, proudly. Te Rauparaha himself makes only one appearance in person. Otherwise, he is the subject of the Others' speech, the leaders of the Spirits. The poet tries, with grim humour, to belittle Te Rauparaha's present power, but the old chief persists. Both subject matter and language make this definitely a poem of New Zealand. In the later poems, the tone changes. Colours, not nature, are dominant in the imagery. Few of these poems are as happy as those of the earlier years. The subjects become more personal and several deal with broken relationships. Reflections On Some Great Chiefs is a wryly amusing look at some of the characters who figure earlier — Te Rauparaha, Tamaiharanui, along with Te Wherowhero. The last poem, Walk The Black Path, is surrealist in effect and a very bleak vision of city life. Perhaps it is a taste of the Campbell to come. It is good to have such a wide selection from one of New Zealand's leading poets so widely available. The variety makes for interesting reading and the presentation is good — both in hard and soft cover. In its soft cover form, it is ideal as a school set for secondary schools — and New Zealand students would obviously find more to relate to in Campbell's poetry than

in much overseas poetry taught them. The poems are well set out and not jammed together as sometimes regrettably happens with some collections, and the cover, with Kapiti brooding greyly over it, complements the contents.