Groundwork

In this new collection Rustum Kozain, who won both the Ingrid Jonker Prize (2006) and the Olive Schreiner Prize (2007) for This Carting Life, raises his own bar. Groundwork retains strong connections with Kozain's early work, but it does so while simultaneously introducing a group of poems that indicate the promise of work to come. His voice has strengthened and has a new confidence, making the poems (paradoxically) lighter - though they are not without his trademark seriousness. This is a thoughtful, pitch-perfect collection that resonates with the reader long after the last poem is read.