INTERCOLONIAL by Stephen Oliver
INTERCOLONIAL by Stephen Oliver
Intercolonial
is the title of an ambitious narrative poem by
Stephen Oliver. The term refers to the
shipping trade between the colonies of Australia and New
Zealand. The poem was started in Sydney back in the mid-90s
and after many long delays, finally completed in New
Zealand.
Intercolonial, fittingly, ranges wide—it’s oceanic—transtasman, transatlantic—both impressively researched and visionary. McCormack, at its centre, may be ‘Dionysius morphed into Cormac Mac Airt’—his dreamscape comprises the coming of the gods, the Romans, the Vikings, the Maori. Stephen Oliver gives us a Wellington as shape shifting through myth, history and childhood as any of McCormack’s hauntings; set him at any of the way stations and we are caught in the swirl of seas, the changing landforms and cities, human doings, minds and stories. A compulsive read.
Judith Rodriquez—poet and editor (Melbourne)
Intercolonial is founded on a
kind of psychic geography, a set of bravura descriptions
which move from the geology of Wellington to the clash of
the Pacific and Australian plates—and, further afield, the
North Sea. As the title suggests, Oliver’s identity has
both Australian and New Zealand roots; this poem powerfully
explores the ground of that identity in the dark realms of
being, dream and the unconscious. The ambition is epic, the
language driven, the structure balanced.
Intercolonial reconfirms Oliver’s status as perhaps
our leading transtasman poet.
Nicholas Reid—sometime senior lecturer, University of Otago (Canberra)
Stephen Oliver is the
author of 17 volumes of poetry. Travelled extensively.
Signed on with the radio ship The Voice of Peace
broadcasting in the Mediterranean out of Jaffa,
Israel. Free-lanced in Australia/New Zealand as
production voice, narrator, newsreader, radio
producer, columnist, copy and feature writer, etc. Lived
in Australia for the last two decades. Currently spending an
extended sojourn in NZ. His latest volume, INTERCOLONIAL is
as much about Australia as it is New Zealand. A
transtasman narrative.
Intercolonial
ISBN 978-o-9o8943-40-1 76 page soft-cover printed on
fine paper and hand sewn. Size: 140 x 207mm
Price: nz$.28.50 plus postage. Direct credit payment option available on request.
ENDS