Sad joke on a marae - Apirana Taylor
Tehei Mauriora I called
Kupe Paikea Te Kooti
Rewi and Te Rauparaha
I saw them
grim death and wooden ghosts
carved on the meeting house wall
In the only Maori I knew
I called
Tihei Mauriora
Above me the tekoteko raged
He ripped his tongue from his mouth
and threw it at my feet
Then I spoke
My name is Tu the freezing worker
Ngati D.B. is my tribe
The pub is my marae
My fist is my taiaha
Jail is my home
Tihei Mauriora I cried
They understood
the tekoteko and the ghosts
though I said nothing but
Tihei Mauriora
for that's all I knew
I read this in fifth form and just went looking for it again. Cheers. :)
ReplyDeleteYou have made three mistakes in retyping this poem, which blur the meaning of it. These are the errors
ReplyDelete1. Line 2: should read "Te Kooti"
2. Line 7: Should read "In the only Maori I Knew"
3. Line 22 should read "though I said nothing but"
Actually, make that four. In line 3 the name is "Te Rauparaha".
DeleteThank you for posting the poem. I'm not being picky, I just thought readers need to have as accurate a version of the poem as possible.
Awesome! Thank you so much, Harold. I type these from poetry books I own and often make typos and am unaware of it - really appreciate your helping me have an accurate record. Many thanks!
ReplyDelete