The annual National Poetry Day, 2016, hits New Zealand today, August 26, and the power of poetry will be unleashed nationwide with about 100 events and a wide range of poetry competitions scheduled.

So what dramatic poetic feast can we expect in Tauranga? Sorry folk the ‘Retirement Gulag Capital of the World' will be closed that day and seemingly will not be participating in the National Day.

Shame that! The National Poetry Day can join all the road shows that bypass this arid cultural desert.

I'm distraught that I will not be able to release my new poem ‘Dunwaiting':

An outback dunny it seems to me,

is a structure so sublime.

This long-drop is not deep enough.

We'll have to get some lime.

When I'm sitting here reflecting,

I think of things that worry me.

Is there an Aussie listening device,

Above my head, or is it on our TV?

Advance Australia Fair!

Yours in despair, B Conroy, Otumoetai.