This new book, titled loved, mis-loved and loved again, is full of poems and stories about longing and desire and mermaids and Irish girls and places and people and philosophies the poet believes in.

"These poems are written to be told in the best traditions of the travelling bard and story teller," says Raffills.

And following in those traditions, he recently took his poems on a road trip and exposed them to the hubbub and convivial chatter that is to be found in the cafes and bars of our cities and towns.

"The poems are very earthy and accessible," said Raffills. "They have a lyrical quality, with rhythms and rhymes and alliterations to help them flow and stay with the reader long after the telling has been told.

"They deal with love and loss and hope and Hank Williams and Johnny Cash and all the delights and regrets and fears of pilgrims and trangers and family and friends and our own selves! All these hings are the blank pages on which the words are crafted into verse and weave their way into the heart and mind of the reader or listener."

"In this book you will find the barnstorming idealism of youthful revolutionaries and the wild dreams of those who have more than a year or two notched on their belts," he said.

"Life is a gift and as we travel it, we come across one surprise after another; sometimes they are good and sometimes they are not so good. But how we deal with what's dished up to us makes us who we are.

"Hone Tuwhare reckoned that you have to be true to yourself, which means being honest. He says that if you are going to publish a poem you have to believe that there is something in it that you want to communicate to people. I love the idea that poems have something to say of the writer's heart and that what they say, and how they say it, is written not for the critic or the poetry competition, but for the telling of the tale around the fire or across the bar.

"Dr Samuel Johnson, the English poet from the 1700s said, along these lines, 'from poetry the reader justly expects, and from good poetry always obtains, the enlargement of their comprehension and the elevation of their fancy'. High ideals indeed but that is what I would like to aspire to with my poems. I want people to hear them or read them and think to themselves, 'yeah, that's something to think about' or 'I like what's being said there'."

Raffills worked with editor, children's author and social commentator Amy Brooke to prepare this new publication.

"Amy worked with me on my first two books and it was a real confidence booster to have her skills and insights. She gave me the encouragement to rework lines and ideas to say more accurately what I wanted to say."

The House of Ales in Nelson was the venue for the launch of loved, mis-loved and loved again in December 2008. It was a fitting place since Raffills recently completed a seven gig tour of the lower North Island and the top of the South playing cafes and bars.

"It's where I like to tell my poems," he said, "because the spoken word is the oldest and rawest form of communication and cafés and bars are where we traditionally gather to engage in it."

Raffills toured with friends Steve Apirana and Jim Doak and they played a mix of blues, bluegrass and poetry under the banner of Dirt Floor Music and Poems.

"After road testing the poems at local venues and at many gatherings of the Live Poets Society in Nelson and Golden Bay, the tour was a great way to see if the words had a resting place beyond the borders of the home town," said Raffills.

"It was the first time I had gone on tour and I wondered if the poems and their telling would pass the entertainment test. The mix of music and poems worked well and was received very enthusiastically by punters."

The tour took in seven gigs in Wellington, Masterton, Raumati South, Blenheim, Golden Bay, Greymouth and Lyttleton. This was followed by a private show in Christchurch which was recorded live and filmed for a CD and DVD to be released early in the new year.