The one section most ignored is the poetry section. So many small collections have become its tinder, its book of matches to shed some light on the act of writing. Yet poetry is cool. Oamaru-born Nick Ascroft knows this as he produces his seventh collection.
Poets like Ascroft are found on television and popular radio, in trains, in prisons, supermarkets, waiting rooms and zoos.
His poems have an abiding interest and concern what it means to be human. Who are we? How did we get here? And what do we do now?
Ascroft has many influences: Richard Reeve, John Dolan, David Eggleton, Monty Python and song lyrics.
It’s What He Would’ve Wanted is a hilarious and affecting new work as he writes of lost friends, new frailties and new braveries. Five sections include ‘‘little help’’, ‘‘your funeral’’, ‘‘big ask’’ and ‘‘just ad nauseam’’. There are many amazing poems: the title poem, ‘‘Pastiche for Mum’’ and his heartfelt ‘‘Fair-weather Friend’’ (for Niki) are included.
It may sound like Ascroft is having a laugh with poems like ‘‘I Lost My Wardrobe in the War’’ and ‘‘Which 1990s Pin-Up Is Our Future Husband?’’, but there is something else. Ascroft has spent time alone in a dark room and listened imaginatively and openly to the voices of living and dead. This whole thing is a revealing, challenging experience. A reader can tell Ascroft has been through so much.
This one is his best yet.
Hamesh Wyatt lives in Bluff. He reads and writes poetry.
