Title: A fugitive presence /
Authors: Bland, Peter, 1934-
Year: 2016
Subjects: Poetry New Zealand.
Abstract: Peter Bland's poems have an ecstatic sensibility and a vividly personal voice, or voices. In this new collection Peter continues his search for 'a lost sense of the sacred' and explores his 'wanting to be a child again.' These are poems of recovery and intervention, full of the intoxicating feeling his work evokes.
Contents: That other joker -- Nothing alien -- Genesis -- A fugitive presence -- I caught the boat to nowhere -- Harbours --Lament -- A pilgrim soul -- The room is suddenly full of angels... -- In praise of the day's sweet vagaries... -- The philosopher -- The parade -- Losing touch -- Hidden depths -- Strange territory -- The dance -- This poem starts right now... -- Sunstroke in the supermarket -- The bordello -- High tide -- Nostalgia... -- The unicorns are back -- The garden -- Going to seed -- Exotic hopes -- Evensong -- A guest in the garden -- Figures in a landscape -- Blackberrying -- Wayward -- Elegy for my mother-in-law -- Exotic -- At the bar of the Travellers Hotel -- The empty playground -- The old country -- Tell me more -- The chimney -- The pious -- On acquiring an Old Testament tone -- Just another post-revolutionary tourist guide -- Home -- Postures of departure -- Betrayal -- Didn't I say? -- Half-closed doors -- Bread, water, wine -- Behind the scenes -- Hello and goodbye...