David Howard has slipped under the radar - even though he can often be spotted around Dunedin.
He is loved by many poets, including Kapka Kassabova, Cilla McQueen, Brian Turner and Michael Harlow. He was co-founder of Takahe and pyrotechnic-special effects supervisor for the All Blacks, Metallica and Janet Jackson. Howard has appeared in more than 30 magazines and won poetry competitions.
One time Howard collaborated with Leipzig-based photographer Dean Nixon on an exhibition entitled "Unfinished Business". It makes sense this super-collection, containing more than 140 poems, is called The Incomplete Poems.
The Incomplete Poems is an eloquent testament to the darker, heavier themes that can occupy a man who has grown to love and enjoy life. Howard has proved with poems like "On the Eighth Day" and "Talking Sideways" that he can really write poems. The deeper he delves into himself the purer the output.
"Charm":
I'll ride your smile
into the night. Here,
take the nails
from my index fingers
for security: I'll come
back. Carefully
adjust your kiss
until it slips
under this collar
bone. Open
my body: pick
the rib that carries
the curve of your breast -
set
that bone between
an oak and an elm
as a cradle
for our child.
Howard has reworked many of his best poems in this latest collection.
Some have little changes, a word or two. Others have had entire stanzas deleted. "Social Studies" has become sharper and clearer as a result.
Howard's delivery is honest and rewarding. His words are imbued with meaning and never sound forced or wasted. I like how many of Howard's poems were conceived in New Zealand.
"Revisiting Church Square":
In January we blew
dandelions: our words covered the
garden,
disturbing the bees. By February
we hid our Christian names in poppy
heads:
I wanted to God I wanted to
open your pod. March thorns
tore your fingertips, the tip of my
tongue
as we loaded late roses with later
promises.
You saw red, I found yellow.
Yet our shadows were equal.
May Day we danced
away: an arm's length and millennia
apart. At midnight our son came
searching
with the crescent in his left hand
and the full moon in his right.
He circled our world. He squared
everything.
"The Word Went Round" is a sustained poem from 2005 and published in 2006.
It begins with short lines, staggered to form three or four sideways Vs that ripple down the page. The poem explores the circumstances of immigration. The form evokes the movement of wind, waves lapping at the boat, the changing seasons and the motif of journey.
Other poems have two juxtaposed columns of verse that can be read in several ways like "Resurrection Imperfect". The last bit is full of embellishments, breakaway thoughts and transplanted quotations.
Howard does not lean towards fun and laughter, but he does have that unbeatable ability to conjure mood as easily as mayhem. There is plenty of emotional urgency.
Howard exhibits in The Incomplete Poems that not only can old dogs learn new tricks, but they can get better with age too. The whole book is full of blunt honesty.
- Hamesh Wyatt lives in Bluff. He reads and writes poetry.
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