NZ Poetry Shelf
Poetry Shelf Cafe
Posted: Monday Nov 06, 2023
Six Readings from Te Awa o Kupu
In their introduction, Vaughan Rapatahana and Kiri Piahana-Wong, the editors of Te Awa o Kupu, introduce a river that "has flowed throughout Aotearoa for aeons, with its tributaries, cascades and currents. In places it is majestically serene, in places fierce and forbidding. It is forever mighty."
It is a river of words, it is an oral river.
Te Awa o Kupu, an anthology of poetry and fiction by contemporary Māori writers, opens windows onto the word-currents for us, so we may delight in the river's diversity, its heart, its presence. How fitting in the opening poem, beloved poet, Apirana Taylor, calls us onto the river with the poem 'karanga': "everyone together with laughter tears kōrero".
This is an anthology to hold to your heart, at a time when we so desperately need books to hold to our hearts, with writing that shines a light on things that will comfort and things that will challenge. This is a book to carry with you through summer, to pull out in both shade and sunlight, to absorb the music, the sharp edges, the past and the present, the searing beauty. This is a book to celebrate, and what better way than in the Poetry Shelf Cafe with a reading, and so with grateful thanks to the poets who contributed, welcome.