The late poet Bill Sewell, a one-time Burns Fellow at the University of Otago, once said: ''I remember Iain [Lonie] once telling me that, yes, the process of grieving was insufferable, but it was also immensely interesting. Out of this interest came the ability to observe, note, make magnificent poetry.''
Lonie was born in England. He came to New Zealand by the time he was 10 in the middle of World War 2.
Lonie eventually lived in Dunedin, studying and lecturing in classics at the University of Otago.
A friendship with Charles Brasch and others developed.
He published six collections of poetry. None sold in large numbers.
The Entrance to Purgatory (John McIndoe, 1986) was shortlisted at the 1987 New Zealand Book Awards.
Lonie had mental health issues throughout his life and took his own life in 1988.
Many of his poems have appeared in New Zealand anthologies on a whole range of subjects.
A Late Honeymoon appears in an expanded version in this latest edition.
Other poems Horace's Girlfriends, The Entrance to Purgatory and Proposal at Allans Beach give the reader a local portrait of an artist at the top of his game.
. . . I'm never alone here -
the place is full of ghosts.
With luck, you might see one
swimming naked in a rock pool
on the greyest day of the year.
It is a place for strong attachments:
friends, lovers, children.
I can't promise much
but you won't forget having been here
nor who you came with, and all
that followed, if it followed.
Editor David Howard has produced a work of love. He has done his best to sift through and compile these collected poems.
This is a beautifully produced book by Otago University Press.
If you like poems that brood over desire, death and the divine, this massive collection is the one for you.
Lonie knew how to pen poems that are smart, witty and full of soul.
A Place to Go On From is old, borrowed, blue and renewed.
• Hamesh Wyatt lives in Bluff. He reads and writes poetry.
