Native Bird

In Native bird, Bryan Walpert - who arrived here from the United States a decade ago - writes of what it's been like to be an observer or 'birdwatcher' in a land whose physical and cultural geographies he is still learning to name. With precision and insight, he weaves meditations on birds with the demands of family life in semi-rural, wind-charged Manawatu. At the shifting borders between homes and hearts, prose and poetry, call and song - the poet summons what it means to adapt to new landscapes in an arresting collection that speaks to us all.