Briefcase

Winner, 2012 NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for the Best First Book of Poetry

Sometimes amusing, sometimes sobering, this compilation by judge John Adams is a melange of poems—in traditional and experimental forms—and other texts, which include affidavits, police reports, a sudoku puzzle, court transcripts, a menu, various wills, and commentaries. A disordered novella that brings insight into the practice and language of the law through legal documents, it superbly explores the role of language as a vessel for truth and an implement of justice.