DOUBTLESS – New and Selected Poems
Sam Hunt – Craig Potton Publishing - $29.99

Sam seemed to have disappeared off the radar in recent years so what a joy to come across a new book of poems, his first in a decade. And what a handsome, cleanly designed hardcover publication it is too.
There are a lot of new poems here alongside a selection of his older poems, many now out of print. The title poem runs to 24 pages but most of the new work is short and spare and very much vintage Hunt.

I know Sam of old. In my bookselling days in Napier he called on me several times selling books (out of the back of his vehicle, a former ambulance guarded by trusty dog Minstrel) for that innovative publisher Alister Taylor.

Then in 1980 at Penguin Books I had the great pleasure of publishing his SAM HUNT – COLLECTED POEMS 1963 – 1980. It sold by the van load, many of them sold by Sam himself as he travelled around the country performing gigs in pubs and schools and countless other locations. He was for me, probably still is, the ultimate performance poet, and the punters loved him.
I wonder if he will ever be the Poet Laureate? He is certainly the most popular New Zealand poet in my lifetime in terms of being able to pull crowds and entertain them non-stop for hours at a time.
And that amazing capacity he has for total recall of everything he has ever written.

When he visited Auckland in those days he stayed with his Mum at Milford and after work I would go around and collect him and we’d wander down to the Mon Desir on Takapuna Beach, gone now sadly, and have a few pints. He was great company, a wonderful raconteur, but also of course a celebrity and people were always buying him drinks and asking him for a poem or an autograph.
So it is great to see his new book, to know that his talents have not faded; how wonderful too to see him featured in a four page story by Diana Wichtel in The Listener of August 16. Along with some great pics by jane Ussher.
Well done Sam, my greetings to you old friend wherever you are.