Hoard

by Fleur Adcock

Hoard brings together poems Fleur Adcock had to keep under wraps for several years because they didn't suit the themes of her last two collections, The Land Ballot and Glass Wings. They include reflections on the tools of her trade (handwriting, typewriters), snatches of autobiography (a brief, ill-considered second marriage followed by her migration from New Zealand to England in 1963), and poems on trees, wildlife and everyday objects. Ellen Wilkinson, who led the Jarrow March in 1936, makes two appearances, joining Coleridge, several ancestors and two dogs. The most recent poems in the book recall Adcock's visits around the North Island of New Zealand in 2015, affirming her renewed although not uncritical affection for the country of her birth.

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Paperback

Published February 28, 2018

About the author

Fleur Adcock was a New Zealand poet and editor. Of English and Northern Irish ancestry, Adcock lived much of her life in England. She is well-represented in New Zealand poetry anthologies, was awarded an honorary doctorate of literature from Victoria University of Wellington, and was awarded an OBE in 1996 for her contribution to New Zealand literature. In 2008 she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to literature.

Reviews

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great poems here - no surprise there of course. But these poems ('hoarded') slipped through the cracks of her last two volumes, what's interesting here is the hurt caused by Barry Crump; memories dredged. As always there's beautiful and affecting imagery.

[andré crombie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dreamiest dream for years, this enchanted
amble through cliff-top gardens enamelled
in greens my brain cells have just invented.