Lifeguard: Poems 2008-2013 - Softcover

Critical comment on some of Ian Wedde's previous poetry collections: Three Regrets and a Hymn to Beauty (2009) "If I had to pick one poetry book for a desert-island sojourn, I would either take Wedde's The Commonplace Odes or Three Regrets and a Hymn to Beauty. Both collections offer extraordinary craft, coupled with keen insight and a terrific wit." --Paula Green, NZ Herald (review of Good Business, Feb 2010) ." . . Wedde remains the master craftsman, and lovers of fine language will find lasting satisfaction in Three Regrets." --Sam Finnemore, Craccum "His latest collection is a rendition of light and shade - juxtapositions that sit well in the hands of this surefooted talent." --Patricia Soper, Southland Times "The upshot of all this is a reminder that beauty lives alongside its opposite number but all in all, simple magnificence exists. A dexterous way with words that dazzle and surprise, Wedde takes us on a world tour that includes a bumpy ride through the sites and sounds of New Zealand, exuberant to the end where even the presence of Samuel Beckett doesn't dampen his ardour." --Peter Dornauf, Waikato Times "In all his considerable oeuvre, Wedde is never less than lyrically seductive, always acutely observational in the manner of an Antipodean William Carlos Williams . . ." - Michael Morrissey, Investigate "No matter where he turns his gaze, it is intelligent, insightful and infinitely readable. His gift for language is truly a gift for the reader and propels the brightest moments in this collection." --Matt Bowler, Nelson Mail "Ian Wedde's pedigree is impressive and his class is stamped all over this collection. There are some lines, some phrases, some verses that shine like polished diamonds." --Matt Bowler, Nelson Mail

Here the dual, duelling lifeguards of east and west, sunrise and sunset, glib Narcissus and one-eyed Polyphemus, watch over a collection that explores the contradictions between life's slick surfaces and deepest questions. Ian Wedde's poet laureate collection opens with new major series The Lifeguard; encompasses a second long sequence, ""Shadow Stands Up"", in which a world of Platonic memory and tidal recurrence is observed from a window-seat in Auckland's Link bus; and finishes with an examination of examination, ""The Look"". In poems that are a complex mix of lyric flight, human detritus observed and verbal dexterity, The Lifeguard is significant for its circling preoccupations; its conceits, images and enquiries traipse from one poem to another, reoccurring at different angles. Bringing together work from the past four years by one of our most outstanding contemporary poets, The Lifeguard shows Wedde at his thoughtful, surprising best, building `these lattices and / filigrees of words through which / the light slips, where the shadow / stands up, and we remember'.