bmp 23

rhythm not rhyme

poetics fa'asamoa are

a rush of blood to the head

whether the mind, manaia,

masisi, it matters not, our poetics

tatau, malu, pe'a pages; mind,

manaia, masisi clean & pure,

poetics scratching, tapping,

tatau, malu, pe'a skins of paper -

poetics fa'asamoa: clean & pure

glossary: fa'asamoa - the samoan way, manaia - penis, masisi - clitoris

taupou

her oil glistened dance, a slow circular grace,

her se'e step: the love chains at fa'asamoa's ankles,

picking taro from vege crates at inkia's store, her

fingers searching for sunlit memories on a grey day,

her se'e staggered at the inkia's door, her coins ready

to slip from her grasp, a se'e graced the checkerboard

vinyl of inkia's store, paid for her fa'asamoa, smiled,

and left clutching her bag of brown paper, out, into the

grey day.i could see her light from the car.

taupou: she who is given the honour of dancing solo for her village

art imitates life

he cradled his playscript, his wife's soliloquy memorised:

'attention must be paid', it the was class set, for every one, every year;

open the cover, the school stamp, listed the class casts over the years;

'find your family name - bring it back home - like father like son';

'remember sis - our family name - pay attention - and we won't

spin our wheels'; he signed under Arthur Miller's name:

pp. willie biff happy loman, mrs. loman's man.

New Zealand Is A Polynation

Hey Daughters of the Hibiscus

Sons of the Sea and Sand.

Remember the old plantation

That we worked with the sweat of our hand.

Caressing Life at our fingertips

Land that was our families

And forever Ours

Do you remember.?

Here, our home, our land, is not ours.

It belongs to: the mortgage

the finance company

the housing corp

the debt collectors

It belongs to a thousand pieces of paper.

But it's ours too.until a better place comes along.

Do you understand?

Here, my father works in the shadow

Of the flashing arclight and thus said he:

Learn Well

Open Wide The Books

Learn How To Earn The Bucks Everyday

Learn How To Do It - The Palagi Way.

So, what now.?

I know who we were

I know who we want to be

But who are we now?

Is there an answer.

Daughters of the Hibiscus

Sons of the Sea?

For the Sons of Todds

And the Daughters of the Late night Cleaning

All I hear is silence.

glossary: arclight - welder's torch, its flash and glow dancing on metal; Todds - the local car assembly plant here in my home town - it closed down years back.