In Dark Sparring, poet Selina Tusitala Marsh combats family loss with all the techniques of poetry and Thai kickboxing at her disposal. The book brims with fluid, humming list poems, literary shoutouts and personal elegies, as Marsh takes us through her mother's diagnosis with cancer and the long journey out the other side of her illness. Along the way, Marsh shows us other parts of her world: scenes from Matiatia to Orapiu to Apia; classroom politics; the importance of leadership; and the reasons New Zealand is also a 'lucky' country. Dark Sparring has an appealing voice, a strong right hook and an affecting, rhythmic heart - it amply reaffirms the poetic talents of Selina Marsh, 'the shadow-boxing woman / Sparring myself as I go / Shadowing myself as I go'.