There are mothers and fathers, Kevin, whom we barely know.
They lift us. Eventually we all shall go
into the dark furniture of the radio.
The last lines of Bill Manhire’s astonishing
poem ‘Kevin’ lie at the heart of this book.
These poems want urgently to know how the
secular spirit can lift itself in the face of
mortality and human violence. They are full of
richness and courage and surprise, turning from
grief to curiosity; then to beauty, humour, anger,
gratitude, acceptance – and once again to
curiosity.
Gifts 
