just mercedes
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Rules: Write a poem for national poetry month on the topic or form described. Each poem should appear as a separate reply to this thread. The goal is to, at the end of the month have written 30 poems for National Poetry Month.
Topic 12: Write a poem inspired by a NZ fairytale, fable, or parable. You'll find them easily but here are a few links.
https://audiobooksnz.co.nz/product/maori...3eb2c69a18
http://eng.mataurangamaori.tki.org.nz/Su...ry-Stories
http://history-nz.org/maori9.html
Form : any
Line requirements: 8 lines or more
The children never returned
from a fishing trip. It should
have been easy, just
placing eel traps
near Koekohe,
so many tamariki went.
Aue! Aue! Big waves
came that day
after the waka
sailed out of sight.
We’ve heard their traps
washed ashore, right along the beach.
They’d be getting dry by now,
cracked.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...years.html
tamariki - children
Aue - lamentation, woe
waka - canoe
just mercedes
Unregistered
Silent, at his uncle’s funeral
‘Aue! The light! It hurts my head, my eyes!
I want to hide in shadows - make it night!’
His father shivers at the son’s weak cries.
His flesh is wasted. Something isn’t right.
His wife died suddenly, just weeks ago
and now his son’s life fades, despite his care.
No vomiting or fever, broken bone
but look! His eyes! The boy’s no longer there.
The tohunga, soul surgeon to their tribe,
arrives, his diagnosis fresh dismay.
‘The boy’s been cursed by someone near your side.’
‘Then curse him back, but harder! Don’t delay!’
Within three days the boy was out of bed,
observing tangihanga for the dead.
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly...dy-d4.html
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Disnify: From Mouse to Maui
I was never a mouse, and never
that fat, just something tribal
to be whitewashed into another
scene from Jumanji,
anything with The Rock or Robin Williams.
A CGI corpse presents no obstacle
for them or the Woman of the Night.
They have no idea that I crawled
through a cave so tight
it was like being born backward.
I felt the fangs scrape my spineless back.
How do you include that
with a musical number? I’m told
they wanted Chrissy Amphlett.
Close is always good enough to count,
even if they miss by over two-thousand miles.
She being dead was appropriate, the very point
of my journey. I had no fancy fishhook,
and no tattoo to tell my story. Only the truth slithering
up a wet passage waiting to be unborn.
The secret of poetry is cruelty.--Jon Anderson
just mercedes
Unregistered
Todd - you're in top gear! This captures so much about NZ Maori culture now, and Disney's cultural (mis)appropriation.
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The story of re-creation as a neo-tale, retold in a diverse cultural environment
so Maui pulled out
the perfect picnic spot
and Kupe discovered Aotearoa
then came the hot air balloon
Tawhiri Matea sent gentle winds
Papatuanuku and Ranginui
sailed through the world
cuddled up in an embrace
the children went unnoticed
needed no visas
until the parents upon reaching
some island
saw some monks offer their
sun salutations
tried to do the same
each time they did
the upward dog
or the downward dog
there was light
then they each did the plank
the children
were freed of darkness
crept away
only to get back into the hot air balloon
Like Anita's daughter hollers
for her, holding the door of the elevator ajar
the children in harmonised voices
called out to their parents
who swam back
they all flew back to NZ
thanks to the favourable winds
thanks to the son who controlled them
but they grew fond of idli sambar
so each Sunday one child
flies the airbus to idli-sambar land
and back again
they say the olden tale is charming
but the new rules of aviation
do not allow darkness to move in
without a visa
and darkness melts away
who wants to know why?
Not me
just mercedes
Unregistered
A great mix and meld of cultures here.
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Call me Kupe
I chased that wheke til I found green stones.
We made rituals and left names in their places.
Now we're everywhere.
But now it's New.
You can watch the movie and make up your own mind
but then was now, and all was new.
Now it's New and who are you?
I'm Kupe, and the wheke won't be coming back!
Peanut butter honey banana sandwiches
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Kupe and the Giant Octopus
Tricky Kupe, tricky Kupe
look out to the sea,
you see a giant octopus
who wants to make you bleed.
Tricky, tricky Kupe
uproot calabash trees
and toss them in the sea
their waving fronds and gourds
look like human beings.
The octopus is hungry,
emerges from the deep to eat,
but tricky, tricky Kupe
leap upon its head
and deal the final death-blow
letting fly the soul from the body of the beast.
The Great Kupe
known throughout the sea
for his Great Death-Blow,
Arapaoa,
now the South Island of New Zealand.
Thanks to this Forum
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some great stuff going on in the NZ threads
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The truth is, Charlie,
between the grogshops and brothels
to your left, and missions
to your right,
there is still a little too much
animal in us
to love properly,
and we're not fit enough
to fill the hole.
