James Keir Baxter was born in Dunedin in 1926 and died suddenly in 1972. His parents were a self educated Otago farmer and a graduate of Cambridge University. His father suffered severely in France as a conscientious objector in the First World War. Baxter was educated at the University of Otago and Victoria University. He worked in a variety of vocations including time as a postal worker, a journalist and a teacher. Common to many of Baxter's works is his direct usage of personal life experiences. It is characteristic of Baxter, that his personal life and presence is essential in his poems, he constantly draws himself, the people and places around him, and specific events and memories.

Beneath the variety of his poetry lie constant themes of men and their nature. His works reflect on a sad awareness of men's failure to achieve their potential, rather, wandering aimlessly between the...