Baxter, James Keir (1926–1972)

New Zealand critic and poet. Together with Louis Johnson, he founded and edited the magazine Numbers 1954–60. His criticism was collected in The Fire and the Anvil (1955), The Man on the Horse (1968), and the influential Aspects of Poetry in New Zealand (1969). His verse collection Runes appeared posthumously in 1973.

Baxter was born in Dunedin. After graduating from university, he worked as a labourer, journalist, and teacher. His radical convictions led him to found a commune at Jerusalem, a Maori community on the Wanganui River. He recorded his experiences there in verse in Jerusalem Sonnets (1970), Jerusalem Daybook, and Jerusalem Blues (both 1971). Baxter also wrote ten plays, and collaborated with Louis Johnson and others on Poems Unpleasant (1952) and The Night Shift (1957).