From Apia to Parnell, ancient Rome to Aro Park and on to the furthest reaches of the internet, AUP New Poets 7 takes readers on an eye-popping journey through contemporary New Zealand poetry.

The collection opens with Rhys Feeney's passionate take on contemporary global politics and ecological collapse. Next, Ria Masae leads us from a fale in Samoa to the pulsing streets of Auckland city in a voice rooted in the spoken word. And finally Claudia Jardine makes the startling images and unlikely facts from the classical world echo around inner-city Wellington.

We see scars and tattoos, mutilated barbie dolls and deep-fried bananas, fat-soluble poisons and indestructible pumpkins as each poet's distinctive vocabulary and sense of rhythm combines in one powerful volume.