C. K. Stead has always swum through literature, cultures, surroundings both physical and social, with a deft stroke. Completed in his eightieth year, his collection The Yellow Buoy sees the poet firmly attached to his memories, attuned to his craft and attentive to his world. Here, in classic vein, Catullus returns to receive the ONZ, write to friends and ‘read the world’. Various other literary fellows appear in person, dream or conversation - Curnow, Kawharu, Sargeson, Creeley, Mansfield, Wordsworth - and the book includes warmly translated versions of poems by Montale, Vita and Jaccottet alongside glimpses of fantails and elegies for friends. These poems urge a reader to stay alert, to pay attention to ‘the poetic moment / so easily missed, / so quickly lost.’ From his green enclave and ‘avid for copy’, this poet is singing still - but also considering the acceptance of silence.