Three Regrets and a Hymn to Beauty

Five extended poems linked by themes of beauty and language make up Three Regrets and a Hymn to Beauty, a new collection from one of the best New Zealand poets writing today. The long poem gives Wedde room to explore these themes in detail, weaving back and forth, accumulating phrases, images and sounds, always with characteristic exuberance and humour. The central 'Hymn to Beauty' is a kind of zany calendar of a search for beauty among the everyday, made up of song lyrics, favourite people, quotations and conversations. In 'Letter to Peter McLeavey' the poet travels the country, delighting afresh in its beauty but also seeing it through the eyes of painters who have preceded him as interpreters of the landscape. The 'Three Regrets' that open the collection and the concluding poem for his mother provide vivid and moving frames for this wonderful book.