Response to "Distant Memory"

This poem was very well written as it made me think "do I really know my own history? ". People can't simply say " I understand where I have come from and where my roots derive, they need to find out themselves to know completely. " the poem asks direct questions to the reader, creating a sense of  being spoken to, a conversation between the author and reader, such as " have you been back to the villages of your parents?" . The use of font and haiku style indicates that this question is important.

Identity

I am no self proclaimed Polynesian
Though my blood is rich with the soil of this land
And my ears are filled with the beckoning call of Papatuanuku and Ranginui
but I am indifferent.

My feet are only feathers on the vast plains of my place of birth
my place of life
I am part of no tribe
but I am
Indifferent to where I come from

I am a self proclaimed "plastic Maori"
You will not find my ancestors carved into my body
like our islander neighbours do with such honour
You wont find me on a marae,
unless there's a funeral.
even then my eyes are draped in indifference

Our culture is but a shadow of what it was
just like our cities.
Still I am indifferent

"I'm Not Sorry Any More" a poem written by Kali Vatoko and Albert Leolama is about someone speaking in narration angrily about someone. It explains about what someone (in this poem the other person is anonymous) had done to him which in the context is very traumatic. According to the poem, he was kidnapped from his home and he misses his parents dearly, he is bottled up with anger over the incident just because he was black and the "kidnapper" was white.

The poem deals with the subject of racism, that the black people were taken away and separated from the other people. The use of language "i belong to the land" and "I want to catch you" could also relate to racial segregation issues worldwide, for example, the South African National Party's racial segregation Apartheid from 1948 to 1994, where the black citizens of South Africa were abridged, and the white people remained supreme and the rule of Afrikaans minority was maintained. In this poem, the black person is being segregated by the white supremacy, saying he will fight back, against the rulers, linking to an event such as Apartheid.

Bare Skin

Unlike Ho'omanawanui,
You won't find a tattoo
all up my arm
down my thigh or
across my back
My skin is bare

You won't find
my personal history
dead ancestors names or
my DNA
tattooed on my skin
My skin is bare

You won't find
who I am
where I come from
where I stay or
where I'm going
printed on my skin
My skin is bare

Look for them
on Facebook
on Twitter
on Google
in a book or
ask my Grandma
you won't find them on me
My skin
will always be bare

Identity - in response to grace taylor

Since i am not of Polynesian culture or Samoan descent , I  have difficulty relating to these poems. However,as I begin to read these poems about early life a here is my take on some of the poems i have read.

Born in a diverse neighbourhood
White person amongst many black people
The teenage children into drugs and alcohol
The adults reminscing their culture and who they are

When they ask
What ethnicity are you?
I say
NZ European

I am
Half yugoslav
Three quarters Scottish
A tenth Maori
A fifteenth Norwegian and Spanish
And a sixty-fourth Chinese.

The intriguing poem Our Pacific is Not too Small, written by Anonymous  reminds the citizens of the Pacific continent that the area in which they live in is more than what it seems. The idea behind it could be that residents of Oceania often immigrate to other countries and forget to understand their roots and who they are, they don't stop to realize that the South Pacific is their home and where their ancestors remain. The poem also presents an idea of Pacific Islanders being too shy to present themselves to the world, as said in the line "do not be small in mind, spirit and heart", From my experience, I see most teenage Pasifikians getting into bad habits such as alcohol and drugs when they reside in New Zealand, not interested in their culture at all,  whereas most adults are sensible and smart and understand a lot about their culture.

Ricky - Response to Vaine Rasmussen's A book and a pen

After reading Vaine Rasmussen's intriguing and motivating poem A Book and a Pen, I then understood that despite all the studying he went under, he never took the time to realize his culture and who he was, two elements he has to discover himself rather than study. These components should be first priority for people then study because if people don't know themselves and their ethnicity they can often feel like a waste of space or not understand their personalities or inequalities. I think knowing your own culture is paramount in order to living a happy life and understanding your place in the world.