Want to post your poems?

If you want to post poems - you can. This site is only for original poetry under your copyright that you are free to add and delete via a google.com gmail account.

The "main site" on aucklandpoetry.com accepts contributions which are then edited and a selection of contributions are then published in its home page current edition.

We invite those who want to publish poetry or to read it to go to
http://aucklandpoetry.com for the future and refer to this site for the extended archive that leads back to year dot about eight years ago.

The members of this blog site have mostly transferred to the main site, so as well as the "history" of AucklandPoetry - post to this site if your work is extremely experimental, avante guarde. Please note you do have the ability to post and remove your work by joining either site and controlling the posting and editing. If your work vanishes from the site you can simply update it with another post. We have always had the policy that users of the site are using our publishing banner to then expose their and other's work and charge nothing.

Back on the blogs

AucklandPoetry.com is back again. Anyone who wants to post on this site may also do so, though the main site is visited more often.

Getting the best of our online publishing

This blog format works very well for building an audience but it is not that great at building a community. The aim is to create a vibrant online publication methodology that provides poets with interaction on the web while providing a history of poems submitted. One is very humbled by the contributions of some truly great voices. But all things seem to exist in time and people just come and go if there is no sense of community. By creating a central portals we can reference or index millions of poems to millions of readers. Potentially.

The advent of Web 2.0 sites like myspace make all this far easier. Go to blogger and start your own blog with your own poetry and link it into our site. By using our site to log links to your myspace efforts you will naturally build links in a site that has a long history.

On the new site: the grey front page generated by the Wordpress system - people can now join at will. You can join too - but the idea is that lots of poets may start to post their work and by allowing moderated comments, some natural editing may occur. From this may extract a monthly publication (incorporating the content on this site) for the most viewed poems. Our server stats programmes weigh your audience.

The WordPress platform naturally lends itself to building a Poetry Community. You can join and discuss, post work that is moderated by an editor or become an author who can post at will, comments are moderated, people can graduate from contributor to author - its quite brilliantly appropriate.

What do you think?

wrong shoe

Adopting the wrong pose at the frantic
momentum to tear the roof
from a child at a time
when blossoms seem at odds
with the humble existence
outside of sharp edges
and leaking worry
pleading with the icicles
leaping from waving tree
to wavering affection
dreaming of hot burnt tea
before the leaves have unfurled
placid in this intended infection
unruled by design no fault went blind
the wrong shoe is on the wrong foot
the steps are not in time
the blades that fall are not synchronised
they fall, so the heads that fall dig holes for themselves
under snow the money is so much like a river
it flows under the bridge and they cycle over
unaware of the swarm of bees erupting from both sides
of that large tree or its eyes that follow you
from birth until you are old enough to chop it down
or leave the cutting edge and its mark in the wood

Standing Still

Not
the vapour that leaves
the trees in the morning
that silent stream light fog
driven by limping memory
Not
the growth rings
natures spare tyre
marking age as though
it were an event in itself
No
more grain invested ceilings
or laughter at dawn
that moment before you smile
collapsed about my eyes

Bernie Kyle

The COACH
By
Bernard V Kyle
[C] 2004

In all fields of human endeavour,
When we strive as we do, for perfection,
What greater the need, than to really take heed,
Of someone, who'll give us direction.

A guide, a friend, and a mentor,
A council, one can approach,
One who is there to assist us,
Who's known to all, as "The COACH."

An Instructor who guides all our efforts,
Who helps, when it comes to the test,
Who'll have to retrain, & renew the pain,
When we perform well short of our best.

But the fans are demanding successes,
And support falls away when we fail,
So few are doubtng the adage,
That 'To WIN', is the real Holy Grail,

And when there's success - or there's failure,
The Coach gets the cheers - or the jeers,
But he keeps on getting reminded,
It's being 'Top Team," which endears,

So there's really just two kinds of Coaches,
The one, who's been summoned - and fired,
And the other who's watching & waiting,
For the day, whe he's likewise retired.
*********
[ He = She ]

New Zealand

New Zealand

by
Bernie Kyle
Copyright, 2003

Do you know where New Zealand is ?
Oh where, Oh where, on Earth ?
Is it big - or is it Small ?
Just How Much is it Worth ??

It's not so big, I must Confess,
It's in the South Pacific,
And Money isn't Everything !!
The Country is Terrific.

There's a green, green Land, & Mountains too,
Within the Easy Reaches,
And Walks and Lakes and Everything,
And lots of Sandy Beaches.

Without a Care, there's God's Clean Air,
And Nature's Gifts are Free,
There's Caves and Waves and Worldly Raves,
Why don't you come & See ?

So from this Land, of the Long White Cloud,
There comes, a welcome true,
We trust you'll come to visit us,
And enjoy our lifestyle too.

New Site

The new site is being switched to, and this site will continue as before under aucklandpoetry.blogspot.com

There is no need for users to change anything - just keep on posting poetry on this blog and it may one day appear on the main site.

Bernie has suggested we should edit the content - so I have installed a content management system and this will now be phasing in - and new content will be managed by an editor or a number of editors with more AucklandPoetry.com and we hope a continued standard of publishing excellence by our valued contributors.

The new site is simple - just register and it you can write and publish articles. I will decide what is the front page. Go to it. Register and use the site, visit as often as you may and most of all, enjoy.

The Literatti

The Literatti @ The Wine Cellar 14th September, 8 pm.

Get a full hit of the show that had the Whangarei Midwinter Arts Festival raving. The Literatti presents a poetry minestrone of spoken word, music and theatre. Audiences will experience multiple poetic voices combined in this new evolution of poetry set to a back beat. Limited capacity.

Tickets $10 on the door or $5 pre-sale.

Contact creative director Miriam Barr on mims_53@hotmail.com to reserve your tickets or for further details.

Auckland Poetry

We are creating a new version of AucklandPoetry.com.

We always intended AucklandPoetry.com to be a live poetry site featuring films of poets reciting and recordings of poetry that sit alongside the written word.

Over the past two years we have invited poets to publish their own work and send contributions for this site. Some have done amazing things (check the Poetry Blog sites or use the search box above to find lots of excellent poems. For example to find my poems, search for my name, etc).

I would like to hear from poets who read live poetry in Auckland and who:

a) want to publish on AucklandPoetry.com
b) have their readings filmed by AucklandPoetry.com
c) contribute art, music and voice recordings to the site.

Interested? Watch this space and get yourself involved.

COMING SOON: Live Readings

Live Video

On the new main site we are featuring video. We will use the Live Video account for uploading these because we want poets to realise that to get page views they will have to use their myspace/bebo/digg/delicio.us or other networking pages and to be very clear here are the terms and conditions. The new front page part of the site does not replace the blog site - you are still invited to contribute to this, the blog site, from which content for aucklandpoetry.com is created. Poets published there - we track the hits via subtle google links which are attached to an income stream. If you have a real hit on your hands, we will pay you royalties. That is the game. Producing art on the internet. Let me know what you think.

Here are the terms of LiveVideo from their terms on livevideo.com. My account is called nalex


5. Harsh Words About Ownership of Content / Limited License to LiveVideo.

A. We consider all content uploaded to LiveVideo servers the property of the person who uploaded it. Therefore, you should ONLY upload content that you have created, you own, you have a license from a third party to upload the specific content on the internet, or content that is in the public domain. Content includes, but is not limited to: texts, images (both moving and still), photographs, music, and sounds. You assume all risk and responsibility for determining whether the content uploaded meets with the requirements of this paragraph.

B. You hereby grant LiveVideo a limited, non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide license to encode, distribute, and display your content over the Site and to use such content for advertisement purposes as LiveVideo sees fit, in any medium, in its sole and absolute discretion, without any compensation to you. You represent and warrant that you are authorized to grant to LiveVideo all rights set forth in the preceding sentence. In order to revoke this license granted to LiveVideo, simply remove your content.

Poetry Live at the Classic - Tuesday 31 July 2007

It's been a while since I managed to drag me feet along to listen and if it felt right, read out one or two pieces at Poetry Live - the event which this site advertised for years - but which I guess some had taken a break and others had moved into that space. And how they have. Not only have they moved the gig from the odd box at Grand Central to a wonderful room with tiny little tables and lots of seats. Plus a great sound system and lighting. Reading poems in blue light was new. The guest poet was Jill Chan who read out her deep in the heart simple truths. There are a few poets that one can admire. Jill Chan read her works slowly sans affect but you will see why - when she writes lines like:

Sometimes the things 
we belong to 
don't belong to us.

then we already know too much. To be drawn by the words alone is the skill of a reader reading a writer. Jill Chan is a great writer and a mesmerising reader. Letting out just that amount of the art that things happen without showing anyone how.


Jill Chan read from her new work 'Becoming Someone Who Isn't', available from www.earlofseacliff.co.nz.

Montana Poetry Day 2007

July 27: Montana Poetry Day 2007 will mark the fourth birthday of The Divine Muses Poetry Reading, an annual event which this year features nine New Zealand muses: Iain Sharp, Harry Ricketts, Mark Pirie, Riemke Ensing, Andrew Fagan, Serie Barford, Olivia Macassey, Siobhan Harvey, Kirsten Warner. Each speaker has 10 minutes to showcase their poetry. There will be books for sale, as well as snacks, wine and juices. 7-9.30pm. Main gallery, Auckland Art Gallery, corner Wellesley and Kitchener Streets, City.

Beattie's Book Blog

Beattie's Blog
Info on Book Awards NZ Listener