the breathing tree

This collection offers 40 new poems from popular poet Apirana Taylor. Inspired by nature and mythology, he shifts his focus from the mundane to the mysterious, and with characteristic wit and intensity shares his delight and despair in what he discovers. Accessible and tender, but pulling no punches, his work assumes many forms and has been included in New Zealand schools’ English curriculum.

Apirana Taylor is a poet, short-story writer, novelist, playwright, actor, musician and painter. He travels extensively throughout New Zealand and internationally, and is an engaging performer of his work. This is his sixth volume of poetry; his previous collection a canoe in midstream was published by Canterbury University Press in 2009. Apirana Taylor is of Māori and Pākehā descent, with proud affiliation to Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Ngāti Ruanui.