Te Purere/The Exodus

There are myriad Aotearoa new Zealand poets who live overseas; several eminent, others relatively unknown. This significant anthology is the first to give voice to these expatriate Kiwi and their distinct perspectives, widening the parameters of New Zealand poetry well beyond its shores.

"John Gallas and Vaughan Rapatahana were destined to create an anthology like this since for many years those writers have been migratory birds, cultural hunter- gatherers. As Rapatahana, the 'indigenous expatriate', describes his exploring: 'from the east I travel / to the east I rebound / carting the lumber of assorted cultures / the hardware of hybrid emotion . . . // I become a different jigsaw.' The anthology is a valuable reminder that we are all jigsaws in progress, not confined to a single identity." --Roger Horrocks, Introduction