Tauira Ano

Ano

    

       

Poem with keys on your belt

writing like a touchstone,

at ease

with ink on the page,

hoping the rain will take away the whakamaa

miss

unlocking and locking the doors

miss

the group 

being a student

hope to play please stay sit down

wholes holes and despite the crossings

away with the fairies

holed up hold up holdup

thrown a bone a leaf falls a thousand

leaves fall – that was deciduous Autumn the insignia

insignia the rope white – reedy,

hope persistent against the clay

slip and tension,

It’s the wheel turning, the pulling

of the jeep the van the needed escape

movement inertia

and up on the road again,

prestigious in development of notary blade synapse

Spin spin spin the world packed up

reeled it in thrown

a line and peeled the skin

of the fish caught gaping

knife through brain little boy

It’s got to be dead now

but it’s wriggling then

throw it back little boy drop it in,

see the swim push of all the fins?

In the middle of the harbour

Rinsed out

by blood on the inside

I wished for the colour of the tree

I held the tree and planted it

I chainsaw the tree and I wished

for the years of life in a story

sapping, what has happened

I have wished far too hard,

far far too

because now I have all the stories

cook ups cockups my freeing light

ever hopeful flights

miss

calculations

my fatal mistakes my

disconsolate pressured divulgences

the inalienable slum in the back,

the slump of my spine her chin

in my kitchen

yanked

up by the tendons at her back

like a parachutist yanked from the mud

by captors

these stories these stores

have so much to do with us

so much over us

the soldiers in us

and how can we assuage that?

It’s not fine weathering that.

you can’t expect us to 

not take it off.

In the middle of the harbour

the Mataa

Use a boat if your arms aren’t long enough

take the men if your arms aren’t strong enough

hold the weight steady then drop it

down drop it down

took out the capital,

complained

formally,

requested assistance

put in a small q,

put in a comma

pulled the volatile word

down to extend catharsis

asserted self

refined

checked origins

the word

catharsis

considered

the lack of autonomy in catharsis

(thanks I'll take my own catharsis)

consensual reform

informed

regained composure

(informed consent)

provided form;

solutions;

formulae;

constant motion in the crowd

(keeps the particle alive)

stirred

refused directives

redirected refuse

justified the active metaphor

of stereo type by drawing

cartooned a face

taught myself the concatenation

of dumbing down

said it out loud

checked the peripheral approach

checked the detail

typed myself

faced type

reframed my image

to extend catharsis in ignition

turned the key

query

avoided time

(incarcerated)

copied carbon

(incinerated)

query

helped

query

ask

you

query

What

do you

think

I do

query

keep

moving

open

query

A collaborative 

soundscape 

poem:

Faith, Love, Hope 

(Glaube, Liebe, Hoffnung)

Auckland Poetry slam finals

   What an enormous privilege to have a top seat for the Going West poetry slam finals, as part of the judging panel, along with Shane Hollands, and Grace Taylor. 
   Thankyou Michelle Durey for inviting me, and thanks to the other organizers for having us there, and much respect Michelle for managing a poetry event that saw the poetry scene in Auckland buzzing for weeks, and the Titirangi War Memorial Hall, packed, with extra chairs being brought in to seat all the guests. It was commented on frequently that our job would be hard, and it certainly was, but very exciting. The thing is there were such talented word smiths and performers in the final rounds, all taking their own personal voice and style to a high level of well practiced intensity, FULL ON! 
   All the semi finalists are astounding performers, and many of those who didn't make the finals for slam are dedicated beautiful wordsmiths as well and I am anticipating furtherance of poetic crossover and show for seasons to come, as this has set a precedence in bringing our diverse poetry groups together. 
   The performers were judged in categories for different aspects of their work: content, delivery, and audience response. But ultimately within these there had to be an instinctive response that breaks it down even further. The audience was fully engaged, and entertained, laughing / crying and shouting and roused by the spirited performances of contestants. I would say some of the aspects of the work that made the difference in choosing our winners were probably the ability to package and shape both the performances and the writing with a complex fabric of engagement. In writing : heartfelt clever circuitous concepts, and the management of details but also with a broader perspective. So the oratory skills of focussing in- to the detail and then zooming out to the issues, was manifested with some amazing craft. Elements of surprise and reveal, (the 'you though this poem was about that, but now it's actually this as well...' thing), and in performance: beyond being absolutely present, being able to pull back a little and push forward a little, without losing the connectivity with the crowd is a great stage skill, and while not all winning slam poets need to be super fast talkers, risking the woven fabric of super fast talking while keeping thematically engaged is also simply technically impressive, and knowing when to slow without losing height, leaves us gliding but most of all, if there was anything that I had to go by at the last second, it wasn't the forgetting of a word, or a stumble, or the fact that a whole sentence came out like ghzushinnyouprrivodmir with spit flying around, or a desire to push one theme over another.. There was one thing that was key for me to judge a bit further in, and that was the 'poetry / the craft of aligning one word against another/ and juxtaposing for intent in that refined place on the inside of your poems, within the way you talk, and the ideas you have, the vitality in lyricism which comes from the reaching for language that makes new language, and the intricate placement of it which builds the fabric that you use then to build the work. 
   Once again, thankyou all the poets I saw performing last night, for taking your voices/ our voices and bringing them into play with such ferocity velocity and spirit, you were all amazing. 
   XGenevieve.

Slam Poetry Tournament begins tonight!

   Roll Up!  Roll Up!  

Roll Up your sleeves Ladies and Gennlemin, 

The Show is about to Begin!  

and I'm very proud to announce that I will be on the judging panel for the Auckland finals.

The New Zealand National Poetry Slam Championship, 
begins with localized heats tonight

in Auckland.

The first heat at the Thirsty Dog, begins from 7 onwards to get yourself a seat.

There are several heats:

14th August  Thirsty Dog

23rd August  Zeal Henderson

25th August  Titirangi Library

1st September  Mangere Arts centre

and the 8th September is both the final heat and the finals :

The Going West Poetry Slam Finals

The Winner goes to Wellington for the Nationals and the National Winner gets cash prize and to represent the country in Australia.

Come along -audience or participant  for some serious Wordplay.  Seriously.

Omens of Fortitude
for David Merritt

Sturdy

like the footwear
of the figure in the photograph
presently

arriving, filmic
and the sole scrubs,
kicks from dust
to doorway

hammers
at the threshold.


Memoirs

fumble with the candlewax;
the hearth,
Old shoes,
on the traveller hold the story
of the transferred,
musically,

and are finally
taken off,
and put to the side of the entrance..


Whole

and encompassing
the fire is as simple as tea

in a small and ancient glass,
and loaf,

prising a lid
by the way
from the sweet
smell of summer,
every morning
boards the floor
and there, like a gift,
an omen of fortitude
just by the door.