Waitaha reviews: Skinny Dip poetry

Skinny Dip poetry

Edited by Susan Paris and Kate de Goldi

Skinny Dip is made by the same people who are the masterminds behind ‘Annual’, and as you’d expect, it’s beautiful.

And surprisingly useful. Flick to the back first, and some of the uses of this book become immediately apparent. Funny engaging little descriptions of the poetic forms used in the book provide a way in for teachers to use these poems as exemplars, models and inspiration for students to tackle each kind of poem. The blurbs here provide on each form and links to the poems in the book, and as you flick back to the poems, you’ll see the name of the poetic form at the bottom of the page. 

This collection is aimed at an intermediate/junior high school level and the best poems in it are the ones that refuse to talk down to the reader. Nina Mingya Powles’ poem named with a character shows a new way into understanding identity and an alternative kind of pepeha. She comments, ‘To me, my family tree looks more like a river that flows into several oceans’, and this expansive view is apparent in her poem. 

Bill Manhire’s ‘History Lesson’ uses the rondel form, the repetition and shifting contexts highlighting the way many perspectives are possible on a single event, and Rata Gordon’s ‘Pot Plant’ opens a door to discussions on climate change.

Anahera Gildra’s ‘te ngahere kuwao/the untamed forest’ explores the worlds that the library opens, a way to take the mundane world of the school and making it truly magical. She ends with ‘a million tiny riders/ gallop the pages that caught them.’

This is a lovely collection of poetry designed to engage a wide range of young people, catching those tiny riders in the pages of this book. 

Reviewed by Laura