Satirist would have 'field day' with Peters

Given his interest in foreign affairs, New Zealand poet Allen Curnow would have loved to have a satirical stab at our nation's new Foreign Minister.

"He would have had a field day," admitted Prime Minister Helen Clark last night at the launch of a book of Curnow's poems under the pen name Whim Wham.

"And he would have done it with great humour," she said, although she did not want to speculate on what Curnow would have written.

The book - Whim Wham's New Zealand: The Best of Whim Wham 1937-1988 - is a selection of Whim Wham columns that captured snapshots of New Zealand society and how global matters affected it.

Curnow, who died in 2001, was well-known for his poetry, but his Whim Wham work became weekly institutions in the Herald and the Press in Christchurch.

Whim Wham's subject matter varied from politics to underarm cricket bowling to walking the dog.

"He was such a good satirist, with a view and a sense of humour about our political and social behaviour that was very refreshing," said Terry Sturm, English professor at Auckland University.

In editing the book, Professor Sturm was tasked with selecting 200 Whim Wham classics.

"There were 2250 Whim Wham poems over 50 years. There are a lot of really good pieces left out, but the ones in there are fabulous."

The timeless relevance of Whim Wham's work appealed to a broad audience, and Professor Sturm hopes to broaden it further in this collection.

"A new generation of people will constantly see connections between the New Zealand he talked about and the New Zealand today."

In launching the book before an audience of 50 people at Auckland's University Book Shop, Helen Clark remembered reading Whim Wham as a university student.

"I always marvelled at the ability of one who is not themselves entirely immersed in the events to make something very meaningful out of it.

"One can count oneself lucky there is not a satirist of his calibre to let rip in the 21st century."

Poetry in action

Extract from Showing Us Howe, addressing British Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe, in the aftermath of the Rainbow Warrior bombing:

It wasn't a British Port, you see,
Where the Ship was sunk that Day,
It wasn't Gaddafi, the PLO,
Nor even the IRA -
Whatever was done was the Work of one
Of your friendly Western Powers!
Can that, in Fact, be a Terrorist Act,
Which was (almost!) One of Ours?