Peace and Quiet

What use is poetry in times of ecological and political turbulence? grapples with this question, invoking both human voices and the voices — ‘the silt and the slash’ — of the natural world.

Powerful and illuminating, these poems show that peace, gentleness and reflection are a form of resistance.

Praise for Dinah Hawken

‘Hawken is a wholehearted, surefooted poet, a gather and protector of precious things that others may ignore.’ —Sophie van Waardenburg, Aotearoa Review of Books

‘This is poetry that digs deeply into existence, life and death, peace ahead of war, the power of silence and the power of the spoken.’ —Paula Green

‘Few writers have the skill to return to the land and the sea with such originality and genuine knowing as Hawken.’ —Sarah Jane Barnett