Inside Autumn 2013, volume 4, issue 1:

Michael O’Leary on early Māori women poets and waiata; classic New Zealand poetry by Marie R Randle (1856-1947); The Ladies’ Guide to Cricket by A Lover of Both c1883; comment on George Clarke; comment on the Stratford Evening Post; donate to PANZA through PayPal; recently received donations; about the Poetry Archive.

Thanks to all those who have donated to the Archive over the past year.

The Poetry Archive of New Zealand catalogue has now been significantly updated to reflect new acquisitions in February, March and April. The Archive began in February 2010 with around 3,000 titles and has grown substantially in the past year. PANZA would particularly like to thank Auckland poet, editor and novelist Alistair Paterson, Wellington poet/publisher Mark Pirie, Wellington publisher Roger Steele, Cecilia Johnson and the late New Zealand anthologist, poet and memoirist Harvey McQueen for their sizeable contributions to the fast-growing collection.

A full list of donations is listed in each issue of Poetry Notes, the PANZA newsletter.

Inside Summer 2013, volume 3, issue 4: Rowan Gibbs on W W Robinson; classic New Zealand poetry by O E Hugo (1855?-1915); comment on Richard A Singer by Niel Wright; Poetry Archive road trip: Hawke’s Bay; Robert J Pope book launch report; new publication by PANZA member: Wednesday’s Women by Dr Michael O’Leary; NZ publication of Cameron La Follette’s poetry; donate to PANZA through PayPal; recently received donations; about the Poetry Archive.

Thanks to all those who have donated to the Archive over the past year. The Poetry Archive of New Zealand catalogue has now been significantly updated to reflect new acquisitions in December and January.

The Archive began in February 2010 with around 3,000 titles and has grown substantially in the past year. PANZA would particularly like to thank Auckland poet, editor and novelist Alistair Paterson, Wellington poet/publisher Mark Pirie, Wellington publisher Roger Steele, Cecilia Johnson and the late New Zealand anthologist, poet and memoirist Harvey McQueen for their sizeable contributions to the fast-growing collection.

A full list of donations is listed in each issue of Poetry Notes, the PANZA newsletter.

Inside Spring 2012, volume 3, issue 3: Mark Pirie on The Old Clay Patch (Victoria College) anthology; classic New Zealand poetry by Rev. J H Haslam (1874-1969); new publication of Robert J Pope’s poetry; comment by Niel Wright on Louis Johnson and Robert J Pope; comment on Tiki Cootes; new publication by PANZA member: Old Hat: A Book of Triolets by Mark Pirie; donate to PANZA through PayPal; recently received donations; about the Poetry Archive.

Thanks to all those who have donated to the Archive over the past year. The Poetry Archive of New Zealand catalogue has now been significantly updated to reflect new acquisitions in October and November.

The Archive began in February 2010 with around 3,000 titles and has grown substantially in the past year. PANZA would particularly like to thank Auckland poet, editor and novelist Alistair Paterson, Wellington poet/publisher Mark Pirie, Wellington publisher Roger Steele, Cecilia Johnson and the late New Zealand anthologist, poet and memoirist Harvey McQueen for their sizeable contributions to the fast-growing collection.

A full list of donations is listed in each issue of Poetry Notes, the PANZA newsletter.

Friday 27 July 2012 is National Poetry Day. PANZA would like to celebrate by posting a classic New Zealand poem by Ivy Gibbs (1886?-1966).

Gibbs is an internationally published poet and children’s writer of the period 1920-50. Little information is available on her early life but PANZA thinks she was born in England and moved out to Australia as a child or young woman before arriving in New Zealand in 1926.

Gibbs’ poetry (inspired by Ragtime music, fairy tales and Romantic English pastoral poets) was widely published in Australia before New Zealand. She appeared in various Australian papers and journals in the 1920s such as the Sydney Morning Herald, Green Room May, Birth: A Little Journal of Australian Poetry, the Triad, the Australian Woman’s Mirror and the Sydney Bulletin.

In New Zealand, her poems were published in The New Zealand Radio Record, The New Zealand Mercury and The New Zealand Herald. Quentin Pope selected her for his anthology Kowhai Gold in 1930 and John O’Dreams [Helen Longford] for the anthology A Gift Book of New Zealand Verse (1931).

In the 1930s, she was on the committee of the New Zealand Women Writers’ and Artists’ Society (1932-34) in Wellington.

Two books of her poetry were published in England: Six Days in a Pensive Mood (Ilfracombe: Arthur H. Stockwell, UK, 1949, no item details found) and The Day is in a Pensive Mood (Ilfracombe: Arthur H. Stockwell, UK, 1949, 26 page booklet). Significantly the latter book is held by The Hocken Library in Dunedin, showing a further connection with New Zealand.

On 3 October 1966, Gibbs died in Auckland. A service was held for her at the Waikumete Chapel Crematorium.

PANZA recognises Gibbs as a significant and still largely unrecognised New Zealand poet. Mark Pirie and Original Books have recently published three archival booklets of Ivy Gibbs’ poems collected from anthologies, newspapers and magazines and Pirie has written a bio-bibliography for her. The National Library of New Zealand holds copyright deposits of these booklets.

Ivy Gibbs

YOUNG MOON

As soon as yellow day leaves the dull town
I love to see the small white moon look down
From evening’s clear and lilac-tinted sky.
As shyly as a girl wakened to love,
As frightened as a little quivering dove,
Reluctant, yet in haste its wings to try
Upon the blue and shining leagues of space.
I love her little white dream-haunted face.
I wonder what she thinks when, from a tree,
She peeps in wistful curiosity
Down on our little green and glowing earth.
I think at times I’ve seen a gentle mirth
Shake her as lightly as a bee a flower,
Seeking his treasure through a transient hour.
I’ve often wondered, little wistful moon,
Who is your lover. For once, far and high,
I heard the young wind near your lilac sky
Tenderly piping a thin silver tune!

Poem © Ivy Gibbs 1925

(From The Bulletin, vol.46 no.2389 26 November 1925, p.7)

Mahy was an internationally celebrated author of books, children’s stories and children’s verse.

Her poems such as ‘Bubble Trouble’ were included in national and international anthologies, including Bill Manhire’s 121 New Zealand Poems (2005), Our Favourite Poems: New Zealanders Choose Their Favourite Poems (2007), The Quentin Blake Book of Nonsense Verse (1994), The Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse (1996) and Pumpkin Grumpkin: Nonsense Poems from Around the World (2011).

Tessa Duder edited her Word Witch collection of ‘magical verse’ in 2009.

PANZA member Mark Pirie remembers reading Margaret’s contributions to The New Zealand School Journal and books like A Lion in the Meadow as a child at WadestownSchool. He greatly enjoyed Margaret’s work.

PANZA extends their sympathies to Margaret’s friends and family at this time.

Thanks to all those who have donated to the Archive over the past year. The Poetry Archive of New Zealand catalogue has now been significantly updated to reflect new acquisitions in June and July.

The winter update includes the receipt of 15 titles from publisher Roger Steele, of Steele Roberts Ltd.

The Archive began in February 2010 with around 3,000 titles and has grown substantially in the past year. PANZA would particularly like to thank Auckland poet, editor and novelist Alistair Paterson, Wellington poet/publisher Mark Pirie, Wellington publisher Roger Steele, Cecilia Johnson and the late New Zealand anthologist, poet and memoirist Harvey McQueen for their sizeable contributions to the fast-growing collection.

A full list of donations is listed in each issue of Poetry Notes, the PANZA newsletter.