During his medical training, Glenn took a year off and went to live in the small Maori community of Te Tii in a remote part of the Bay of Islands. There he was taught to fish, to cook, and how to speak Maori. His first book of poems, The Art of Walking Upright, grew out of this experience and is a kind of extended love poem to Te Tii, its people, land and seascapes.

The Art of Walking Upright won the Jessie Mackay NZSA Best First Book of Poetry Award at the 2000 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.