The past, present and even speculation about the future all find a place in the latest poetry collection Next by Ōtepoti Dunedin based writer Alan Roddick.
It's the octogenarian's third collection, covering 2016 through to last year, and it includes several poems relating to the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Alan also reflects on his childhood, meeting up with an old mate by chance after many years, and the invisibility and health concerns that come with age.
Alan Roddick was born in Belfast in Northern Ireland and emigrated to New Zealand in 1952. Lynn Freeman opens the conversation with one of Alan's poems from Next: