New Zealand National Poetry Day: “Ti”
Ti
Akaroa Heads
Cordyline on a windswept point stark
each frond stabbing
sharp as a taiaha’s blade
defying the elements
facing down the ocean – that vast expanse
conquered first by Kiwa
the far voyaging salt encrusted
sculpted by endless distance
always looking ever longing for land
lying over the next line of horizon –
the darker smudge of blue
lifting to green above the deep swell
the first sighting eyes shaded
of that solitary tree piercing sky
above a coastal headland marking
the moment of transition
the place between.
(c) Helen Lowe
—
First Published in Blackmail Press, “Crossed Cultures” Special Edition, 18 April 2008
Re-published, Crest to Crest: Impressions of Canterbury Prose & Poetry, Ed. Karen Zelas, Wily Publications, 2009
—
Notes:
i) Ti Kouka—the Maori name for the NZ ‘cabbage tree’; scientific name Cordyline Australis
ii) Taiaha—a Maori stabbing spear, used now in ceremonies of greeting and challenge
iii) The Maori name for the Pacific ocean is Te Moananui a Kiwa, ‘the great ocean of Kiwa’, a mythic voyager
—
Friday 30 July is New Zealand’s National Poetry Day and the Tuesday Poem Blog is stepping out by featuring poems from the 3 finalists in this year’s Poetry Category of the NZ Post Book Awards. Check it out here or by clicking on the Quill icon in the sidebar.
Tuesday Poem Blog poets are joining the celebration by posting a poem with “New Zealand” as a theme—or for poets not from New Zealand—on the joys of poetry and making poems. So have a look, have fun, and enjoy the ride!
I like the swell of this poem created by its shape – the spaces – the flow. Very cool. Also, we both have cabbage trees in our Poetry Day poems!
Thank you, Mary. Cabbbage trees are quintessentially New Zealand, I think … but I remember being disbelieving when finding out that they are not a kind of palm, but in fact the world’s largest example of the lily family.