Dance-Floor Romance - by Chris Tse (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Anthems to art and transformation, from past Poet Laureate, Chris Tse. Plot a lifetime of joy. Begin with a niece discovering how to dance; end with a poet weeping happy tears next to water. -- from ' On joy' Unfolding in the strobe-lit landscape of the club, this latest collection from Chris Tse reflects on joy, nostalgia and legacy - and what it means to make a vocation of vulnerability. Words hit the page like light on a mirrorball as Tse takes us from come-up to comedown, between the spotlight and the shadowy corners, penning both sadbangers and straight-up bangers that are generous, alive and shot through with the magnetic urgency of a club classic. But when the lights come up after the last dance, how do we brace ourselves to face the world outside? Dance-Floor Romance is poetry that seeks answers from the art we turn to in times of uncertainty, that ' Holds the present as much as it / holds a whisper of the future', and amplifies it. Someone hand Tse the AUX cord.

About the Author

Chris Tse is a writer and editor living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. He is the author of three poetry collections published by Auckland University Press: How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes (winner of the 2016 Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry), HE' S SO MASC and Super Model Minority (a finalist for the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry and longlisted at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards). In August 2022, Chris was appointed Aotearoa New Zealand's thirteenth Poet Laureate; he completed his term in August 2025.