New verse by Auckland writer Tusiata Avia, who will appear at the Christchurch WORD Festival this weekend.

Some notes for critics

1.      Yeah, sometimes my poems are dark
2-5. Get over it
6.     Maybe life
7.      I could write about landscape but it fucken bores me
8.     Monet drews heaps of pictures of lily ponds
9.     If I made references to the Iliad (or the like) you’d know what I  was on about
10.   Lay-ers
11.    Samoan legends
12.   It’s not rocket science
13.   Google it
14.   Some writers don’t put in glossaries
15.   I used to be a high school ESOL teacher
16.   Can’t help it
17.   You still don’t know what fale aitu means, eh?
18.   Nope, not spirit house
19.   Hahaha
20.  That’s a clue
21.   No?
22.  Google it
23.  Imagine you read 3 Pacific women’s poetry collections, would you:
24.  Review them all together?
25.  Use references from African American culture?
26.  (Or something minority that maybe you did your M.A. on)
27.  Be dragged towards the word exotic with the force of a giant moon?
28.  Now, imagine 3 Pakeha men’s collections – what would you do with those?
29.  Put your hands up
30.  If you are white.

Tusiata Avia, 2018

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