Pat White (1)

Pat White's poetry focuses on his life as a farmer in the Wairarapa, difficult territory not far away from where I live, riddled by summer droughts and winter winds. He's a fine poet whose work is sometimes a little too emotionally unrevealing for my tastes - but that's very much of a piece with a taciturn farmer in tough terrain, and the best poems here are very rewarding.

This collection of poems draws on Pat White's experience as a farmer in the drought-prone Wairarapa region of New Zealand. These are technically very adept poems, and Pat White is a considerable New Zealand poet and author - but, for my own taste, I often found them a little too reticent - these are poems for the strong, silent type, even when they are admitting to personal weaknesses and doubts.