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Awards
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Audio

There are mothers and fathers, Kevin, whom we barely know.
They lift us. Eventually we all shall go
into the dark furniture of the radio.

from 'Kevin'

The last lines of Bill Manhire's astonishing poem 'Kevin' lie at the heart of this book. These poems want urgently to know how the secular spirit can lift itself in the face of mortality and human violence. They are full of richness and courage and surprise, turning from grief to curiosity; then to beauty, humour, anger, gratitude, acceptance - and once again to curiosity. Lifted is a book by a poet writing at the height of his powers.

'Turning the pages of Lifted, no reader can fail to be surprised and delighted by the variety of voices and tones ...Manhire shows not only his mature formal skills but his ability to look unflinchingly into the heart of things. Manhire's poems make us feel as if we are really there.' - Billy Collins, Dominion Post

'Manhire is in darkly brilliant form in this death-haunted but scintillating collection.' - Peter Simpson, New Zealand Herald (an NZ Herald 'Book of the Year')

Without Form 11
The God’s Journey 15
Song: Alzon 17
Across Brooklyn 18
The Ladder 19
Opoutere 20
Still Life with Wind in the Trees 25
The Writer 26
The First Film 28
After the Movie 29
Creative Nonfiction 30
The Party Next Door 31
Unusual Film Idea 32
An Inspector Calls 33
Hotel Belair 34
Encouragement 35
Dogs 36
Erebus Voices 40
The Monks 42
My Childhood in Russia 44
Mist 46
OE 47
Global Track 48
Two Literals 49
Entering America 50
Hotel Emergencies 51
The News 53
The Park 54
False William 56
Medical 57
Old Man Talking in His Sleep 58
Bumps 60
Death of a Poet 62
The Confident Troubador 64
Palais Lutetia 65
Villa Ephrussi 66
Birds of Europe 72
Menton 74
Hunky-dory 75

Kevin 79

Bill Manhire was born in Invercargill, New Zealand in 1946. He was his country's inaugural Poet Laureate and has won the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry four times. He headed the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington, establishing and directing the university's prestigious creative writing programme. ... read more

Awards won by Bill Manhire Commended, 2020 Poetry Book Society Recommendation (Wow)

'Manhire changes tack in every poem, coming at us with different techniques and different personae. It's a marvellously varied performance...Lifted is a short book, but few readers will be able to take it all in at a single sitting. It demands -and rewards- re-reading.'
Iain Sharp, Sunday Star Times
'The biggest noise in New Zealand poetry is Bill Manhire... Manhire has always known how to look at the human condition and state it simply through his poems. 'Lifted' is confident and emotive in what it tries to achieve. ...'Lifted' is shining stuff from truly one of our best poets. Definitely check this one out.'
Hamesh Wyatt, Otago Daily Times 'Turning the pages of 'Lifted', no reader can fail to be surprised and delighted by the variety of voices and tones... Manhire shows not only his mature formal skills but his ability to look unflinchingly into the heart of things. He is a poet in which a sly sense of humour is coupled with a respect for whatever truths a poem can wring out of experience. ...Manhireâs poems make us feel as if we are really there.'
Billy Collins, Dominion Post Praise for Bill Manhire 'Bill Manhire's poetry is always lyrical whether the lyricism is the lyricism of the ballad or the lyricism he finds in ordinary, unmetred New Zealand conversational speech. Sometimes it seems as if you can hear a poem tuning up, finding its rhythm before it turns itself into song. As it lifts into song, it lifts, too, into meaning... when a Manhire poem takes flight, and when loneliness is taken for a stroll, the epic vision that the lyric can also, he shows, give rise to is all the more resonant and all the larger for being distilled into song.'

Anna Jackson, Academy of New Zealand Literature

'Though Manhire is full of foreboding about the future, he mixes the serious with the playful across a range of short, experimental poems... This is a poet who shares his learning with an appealing accessibility and ease'

Tom Williams, Literary Review

'Read Wow and you get story and song, light and dark, the surreal, constant surprise, but there is also always wit and humour ... Wow will haunt you'

NZ Poetry Shelf

'Wow offers further intriguing snapshots and glimpses, sometimes half-familiar but never monotonous... Here the light mist over everything teases you with where you are and what's what. Things constantly shift and change shape and being, even as you seem to have grasped them.'

Newsroom

'Being the leading poet in New Zealand is like being the best DJ in Estonia, impressive enough on its own terms. But Bill Manhire is more than that: he's unquestionably worldclass. As with Seamus Heaney, you get a sense of someone with a steady hand on the tiller, and both the will and the craft to take your breath away.'
Teju Cole, Boston Globe

Bill Manhire reads and discusses 'Erebus Voices' (2:29 mins) Podcast 1: Twenty Contemporary New Zealand Poets book launch (10:43 mins)

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Lifted Bill Manhire Categories: 21st Century, New Zealand Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Description Excerpt Author Contents Awards Reviews Audio There are mothers and fathers, Kevin, whom we barely know. They lift us. Eventually we all shall go into the dark furniture of the radio. from 'Kevin' The last lines of Bill Manhire's astonishing poem 'Kevin' lie at the heart of this book. These poems want urgently to know how the secular spirit can lift itself in the face of mortality and human violence. They are full of richness and courage and surprise, turning from grief to curiosity; then to beauty, humour, anger, gratitude, acceptance - and once again to curiosity. Lifted is a book by a poet writing at the height of his powers. 'Turning the pages of Lifted, no reader can fail to be surprised and delighted by the variety of voices and tones ...Manhire shows not only his mature formal skills but his ability to look unflinchingly into the heart of things. Manhire's poems make us feel as if we are really there.' - Billy Collins, Dominion Post 'Manhire is in darkly brilliant form in this death-haunted but scintillating collection.' - Peter Simpson, New Zealand Herald (an NZ Herald 'Book of the Year') Without Form 11 The God’s Journey 15 Song: Alzon 17 Across Brooklyn 18 The Ladder 19 Opoutere 20 Still Life with Wind in the Trees 25 The Writer 26 The First Film 28 After the Movie 29 Creative Nonfiction 30 The Party Next Door 31 Unusual Film Idea 32 An Inspector Calls 33 Hotel Belair 34 Encouragement 35 Dogs 36 Erebus Voices 40 The Monks 42 My Childhood in Russia 44 Mist 46 OE 47 Global Track 48 Two Literals 49 Entering America 50 Hotel Emergencies 51 The News 53 The Park 54 False William 56 Medical 57 Old Man Talking in His Sleep 58 Bumps 60 Death of a Poet 62 The Confident Troubador 64 Palais Lutetia 65 Villa Ephrussi 66 Birds of Europe 72 Menton 74 Hunky-dory 75 Kevin 79 Bill Manhire was born in Invercargill, New Zealand in 1946. He was his country's inaugural Poet Laureate and has won the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry four times. He headed the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington, establishing and directing the university's prestigious creative writing programme. ... read more Awards won by Bill Manhire Commended, 2020 Poetry Book Society Recommendation (Wow) 'Manhire changes tack in every poem, coming at us with different techniques and different personae. It's a marvellously varied performance...Lifted is a short book, but few readers will be able to take it all in at a single sitting. It demands -and rewards- re-reading.' Iain Sharp, Sunday Star Times 'The biggest noise in New Zealand poetry is Bill Manhire... Manhire has always known how to look at the human condition and state it simply through his poems. 'Lifted' is confident and emotive in what it tries to achieve. ...'Lifted' is shining stuff from truly one of our best poets. Definitely check this one out.' Hamesh Wyatt, Otago Daily Times 'Turning the pages of 'Lifted', no reader can fail to be surprised and delighted by the variety of voices and tones... Manhire shows not only his mature formal skills but his ability to look unflinchingly into the heart of things. He is a poet in which a sly sense of humour is coupled with a respect for whatever truths a poem can wring out of experience. ...Manhireâs poems make us feel as if we are really there.' Billy Collins, Dominion Post Praise for Bill Manhire 'Bill Manhire's poetry is always lyrical whether the lyricism is the lyricism of the ballad or the lyricism he finds in ordinary, unmetred New Zealand conversational speech. Sometimes it seems as if you can hear a poem tuning up, finding its rhythm before it turns itself into song. As it lifts into song, it lifts, too, into meaning... when a Manhire poem takes flight, and when loneliness is taken for a stroll, the epic vision that the lyric can also, he shows, give rise to is all the more resonant and all the larger for being distilled into song.' Anna Jackson, Academy of New Zealand Literature 'Though Manhire is full of foreboding about the future, he mixes the serious with the playful across a range of short, experimental poems... This is a poet who shares his learning with an appealing accessibility and ease' Tom Williams, Literary Review 'Read Wow and you get story and song, light and dark, the surreal, constant surprise, but there is also always wit and humour ... Wow will haunt you' NZ Poetry Shelf 'Wow offers further intriguing snapshots and glimpses, sometimes half-familiar but never monotonous... Here the light mist over everything teases you with where you are and what's what. Things constantly shift and change shape and being, even as you seem to have grasped them.' Newsroom 'Being the leading poet in New Zealand is like being the best DJ in Estonia, impressive enough on its own terms. But Bill Manhire is more than that: he's unquestionably worldclass. As with Seamus Heaney, you get a sense of someone with a steady hand on the tiller, and both the will and the craft to take your breath away.' Teju Cole, Boston Globe Bill Manhire reads and discusses 'Erebus Voices' (2:29 mins) Podcast 1: Twenty Contemporary New Zealand Poets book launch (10:43 mins)	Share this... Quick Links Carcanet Poetry Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Lives and Letters PN Review Video Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! 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