Jordan Hamel is a Pōneke-based poet and performer. He was the 2018 New Zealand Poetry Slam champion. He uses poetry and performance to create awareness and discourse about environmental and political issues. He is the co-editor of Stasis Journal and his debut poetry collection Everyone is everyone except you was published by Dead Bird Books in 2022.

Rebecca Hawkes is a poet/painter from Canterbury, living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Her chapbook ‘Softcore coldsores’ was published in AUP New Poets 5 in 2019. Her first full-length poetry collection, Meat Lovers, was recently unleashed by Auckland University Press. Rebecca edits Sweet Mammalian and is a founding member of popstar poets’ posse Show Ponies.

Erik Kennedy is the author of Another Beautiful Day Indoors (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2022) and There’s No Place Like the Internet in Springtime (Victoria University Press, 2018), which was shortlisted for best book of poems at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. He lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch.

Essa Ranapiri (Ngāti Wehi Wehi / Ngāti Takatāpui / Clan Gunn) is a poet from Kirikiriroa. They are part of puku.riri, a local writing group. Their book ransack was published by Victoria University Press in 2019. Give the land back. It’s the only way to fix this mess. They will write until they’re dead. And after that, sing.

Endorsements

In the decades to come, when my grandchildren ask, ‘So what did you do when you knew?’ I want to be able to say, ‘As much as I could as soon as I could.’ Yes, I should have known sooner. Yes, I should have done more sooner. But the time for denial, delay, objection and obfuscation is past. No longer can we do as little as we can get away with. We need to aspire to do as much as we should. Poetry and these poems can inspire that action. Ināia tonu nei – the time is now. — from the afterword by Dr Rod Carr, Chair, He Pou a Rangi/Climate Change Commission

Reviews

' . . . going through these verses has really given me an insight into how a wide cross section of creative, deep thinkers from Aotearoa and the Pacific are dealing with this, or not dealing with this looming reality, and that’s quite instructional.' — Phil Vine for RNZ

'The book works as a survey of how a broad spectrum of poets and writers, many of them young, are approaching climate change; it’s a range that is fascinating, thought-provoking, and even, sometimes, humorous, believe it or not.' — Laura Williamson for 1964

Contributors

Rangi Faith
Dinah Hawken
Vaughan Rapatahana
Tayi Tibble
Michaela Keeble
Jessica Hinerangi
Tim Jones
Robert Sullivan
Chris Tse
Tracey Slaughter
Ursula Robinson-Shaw
Aimee-Jane Anderson-O’connor
Philip Armstrong
Alison Glenny
Craig Santos Perez
Ankh Spice
Nadine Anne Hura
Bernadette Hall
Sara Hirsch
Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna‘I
Sarah Maindonald
Michelle Rahurahu
Anne-Marie Te Whiu
Anahera Gildea
Te Kahu Rolleston
David Eggleton
Hinemoana Baker
Kirsty Dunn
Miriama Gemmell
Karen Leef
Laniyuk
Rex Letoa-Paget
Dadon Rowell
Brent Cantwell
Victor Billot
Tusiata Avia
Selina Tusitala Marsh
James Faiau
Mikaela Nyman
Rebecca Tobo Olul-Hossen
Carol Aru
Richard Pamatatau
Hele Christopher-Ikimotu
Karlo Mila
Helen Heath
Caroline Shepherd
Nina Mingya Powles
Cindy Botha
Dani Yourukova
Chris Holdaway
Whina Pomana
Alexandra Hollis
Cassandra Barnett
Maddi Rowe
Ash Davida Jane
Anuja Mitra
E Wen Wong
Frankie Mcmillan
Frances Libeau
Dominic Hoey
Nick Ascroft
Carin Smeaton
Sinead Overbye
Danielle O’Halloran-Thyne
Tru Paraha
Stacey Teague
Jessie Puru
Roman Parrott
Rhegan Tu‘Akoi
Rhys Feeney
Laura Vincent
Zoë Higgins
Janet Newman
Joan Fleming
Tate Fountain
Cadence Chung
Emma Neale
Leona Kamuhangire
Hannah Lees
Sudesh Mishra
James Norcliffe
Rebecca Ball
Tara Black
Eliana Gray
Jessie Fenton
Meagan France
Arielle Walker
Ruby Solly
Stevie Davis-Tana
Briar Wood
Kahu Kutia