Burst Kisses on the Actual Wind, by Courtney Sina Meredith (Beatnik Publishing, $30)

Reviewed by Kiri PiahanaWong

Burst Kisses on the Actual Wind is a tapestry of surprising and shifting verse, focused on connection and displacement, the blurring between internal landscapes and longed for realities.

Thematically, Burst Kisses is wide-ranging, however the core of the book is an in-depth examination of family, belonging, love and the complex connections between people. It was worth waiting a decade for this book. And for me personally, as well as many of Meredith’s reading base – young, or young(ish) brown women making their homes in the sprawling city of Auckland – we have a lot to strive and live for here. As Meredith writes in the final line of the collection: ‘‘The horizon is vast.’’ Yes it is.