t105 Editorial

T105 Editorial

Kia ora ē ngā kaipānui, sláinte and welcome to t105.

And what an issue it is?  From the richly decadently beautiful front cover, to the contents, to the very closing page.  The works of a cadre of both tried and untried talent shine here,  both in the verbal and the visual realms.   There are Masters, Mistresses and mighty Minions within, all of whom have their place, and earn it.  

I was almost overwhelmed by the lusciousness of the imagery in Mary Rose Crook’s darkly dreaming works.  They are utterly spellbinding, and once seen forever smitten, or perhaps ‘smote’, there is a kind of violence to the beauty of these that is better suited to the more fiery notion of ‘smote’ rather than the gentler ‘smitten’, I think.  

Then there’s the gorgeously sly and witty with the merest hint of whimsy, comic by Helena Pantsis, they tickled me and they made me think … and then the line, the line, the line.  It’s all in that, really?

Maria Samuela makes a couple of appearances, and justly so, the woman can write?!?  There is a sharply observed and not too short short story from her ‘The Peach Tree’ and then a review of her brilliant first book ‘Beats of the Pa’u’, written by the wise and wonderful (and sister Pacifica writer) Sarah Maindonald.  

More, much more on reviews: we have a varied and voracious bunch, a veritable glut of glow-ers!  With some excellent pairings of  review-ers and review-ees.  Think Bogey and Bacall, Tom and Jerry,  Fred and Ginger, and Road Runner and Wile E Coyote (that damn cat!) These couplings dance on the page. 

Read Hester Ullyart on ‘Everyone Is Everyone Except You’ by Jordan Hamel.  She’s also got something to say about the anti-divine and diva-ish Tracey Slaughter’s selection of sharpened knives, that are the  stories in ‘The Devil’s Trumpet’.  Tim Jones salutes the smart and succinct  ‘Ten Acceptable Acts of Arson’ by Jack Remiel Cottrell. 

Then Jessie Neilson steps in on ‘Meat Lovers’ by Rebecca Hawke, a book that is Tudor-like in its fleshy opulent descriptiveness.  

Isla Reeves Martin (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi) raps one out on her poet peer and kō pukapuka, Tayi Tibble and her zeitgeisty ‘Rangikura’.  

Ray Shipley tells it like it is and isn’t, in their piece on the young adult book ‘Sanctuary’ by Andi C Buchanan, they’re a contemporary and cool collab.  

And then, if you can still hear the music,  there’s Kirsty Dunn (Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) with  a heartbreakingly responsive and deeply respectful review, full of hōhonu and hinengaro, of Vaughan Rapatahana’s ‘mō taku tama’ , this is contrasted and compared with his previous book ‘ināianei/now’.  A stately and sober read.  

And that’s only the half of it?!  There are other gems too, in poetry and stories, of all kind and cast, with our newest national holiday Matariki being judiciously celebrated and illuminated by word and wyrd in our Matariki Short Short Story Celebration.  A brilliant constellation and cluster indeed.  I will leave you to forage and find the rest of our jewels yourselves.  That being the purpose of perusing this literary treasure chest?  Discover artists on art and the art of ekphrastic writing.  It’s pretty meta, mate – stretching meaning to the max.   Get it.

There’s also a sensitive and emotive essay on abortion, and a wahine’s right to choose, by Nkhaya Paulsen-More.  Timely too, all things considered.  Surely, more than anything, in such recidivistic times, we need to reflect on what this choice, (or any choice) and the loss of the freedom to make it, can mean?   This is a piece that pays its due in terms of the thoughtful application and acceptance of the repercussions of that choice, and the growth and maturity that comes with it.  It is a profound piece that is also about responsibility, personal responsibility.  

I could go on but I’d be in danger of overegging and underlining?  The proof’s in the pudding.  So, in the interests of further mixing metaphors, suffice to say that this t105 is a good ride, whatever your rig of choice, there’s something to transport all who travel here.  As the sublime and subtle Emily Dickinson said:

‘There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away,’
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human soul.’

Gotta be ditto on this booklet on books don’t you think? 

Sile Mannion, Reviews Editor